
YES 1 r.KACOX GEMS F( )K YOU. 



Beacon Gems for YoU; 



OR, 



/ 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSEKEEPING 



Sojfntijif and |ractirHl IHaniml 

FOR 

ASCERTAINING THE ANALYSIS AND COMPARATIVE VALUE OF ALL 

KINDS OF FOOD, ITS PREPARATION FOR THE TABLE, THE BEST 

ARTICLES OF DIET FOR THE SICK AND WELL, THE PROPER 

CARE OF HEALTH, REMEDIES IN SICKNESS, AND THE 

^ INTELLINGENT AND SKILLFUL PERFORMANCE 

f^ OF EVERY HOUSEHOLD OFFICE, WITH 
-^ J A FULL APPENDIX OF RECIPES. 



REVISED AND EDITED BY 

CHAS. W. GREENE, M. A., M. D., 

luthor of" Birds, their Homes and Habits," "Animals, their Homes and Habits, 
A Series of Practical Dictionaries, etc., etc., 





^^JliN 8 1C33 y 

PHILADELPHIA, ^^^i^OpJ/^ 

CALYPSO PUBLISHING CO 

1888. 



/ 



V 



COPYRIGHTED BY W. H. LEWIS, iS 



PREFACE, 



The single aim in writing the present volume has been to prodnce 
a book which should instruct the young housekeeper, the young 
wife, the 3'oung mother, in the performance of the all important 
duties required of her. 

The volume contains, it is believed, such matter as every house- 
keeper will find of dailj^ practical value. The recipes at the end 
of the volume are the choicest gleanings of years of observation 
and practical experience. 

There was a time when the prevailing philosophy taught that 
wisdom and virtue consisted in despising the body and keeping it 
under, in robbing it of sleep, in ignoring the healthful demands 
of the stomach, in inuring the physical frame to hardship and ex- 
posure, and in compelling stern and rigid obedience to a set of 
arbitrary rules which claimed to secure the highest interests of 
the soul, without regard to its connection with the body. But the 
world has grown wiser. And now we cultivate the body, giving 
it abundant rest, and convenient food, and sufficient clothing, and 
proper exercise, in order that its tenant, the soul, may in nothing 
be shorn ot ^its power, but having a perfect instrument with which 
to perform its varied work, may realize the highest condition of 
humanity, the perfect soul in the perfect body. 

It is hoped that the pre.sent volume, if studied and followed 
will render the wife and mother sagacious, able, well-informed, 
ready, skillful, tasteful, and accomplished in whatever makes 
HOME the center of our dearest comforts, and the fountain of our 
purest delights. 

Chas W. Gkeexe. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE ALIMENTARY PROCESS. 

I>aty of Woman in the domestic relation. Compared with man in this 
respect. Knowledge required by her. She should be well ac- 
quainted with the organs and processes by which the human frame 
is nourished. Amount of waste and of supply in twenty-four hours 
of a human life. Vigor depends upon aliment. General description 
of the alimentary canal. Its divisions and various digestive juices. 
Two grand reasons why we eat. To secure warmth and to create 
strength. Division of food into tissue-making and heat-producing. 
The demand for a variety of food. Function of the mouth and 
the saliva. Description and oflSce of the stomach. What conditions 
are required to secure easy digestion. Digestibility of food varies. 
Oily matters in the stomach. Different foods benefit the body in 
various ways. Duty of a housewife to adapt food to persons whose 
age, health, and occupations differ. The table as a place for the 
cultivation of taste, 15-2S 



CHAPTER II. 

THE CHEMISTRY OF FOOD. 

The division ot food into that which makes heat, and that which gives 
strength. The chemical difference consists mainly in the presence 
or absence of nitrogen. Proportion of different chemical elements 
in an ordinary dinner. Three groups of alimentary substances. 
First, those in which nitrogen is the chief element; second, those 
in which carbon abounds ; and third, those in which the two are 
blended. The relations of blood and food chemically stated. 
Among heat-producing articles, the value of starch considered. 
The analysis of starch. Starch the chief element in sago, tapioca, 
arrow-root, etc. These articles of food discussed. Why they are 
suitable for the sick and aged and for children. Table showing the 
amount of starch in different kinds of grain. The difference in 
flour produced by different modes of grinding and bolting. Su- 
periority of coarsely ground meal. Characteristics of the best wheat 
flour or meal. Oil as an element of food. Fixed and volatile oils. 
Table sliowing the quantity of oil in articles most used as food. 

V 



VI CONTENTS. 



Oiemical composition of various oil.-* or fats used as food. Iiic 
office of oil in tlic system. Its digestibility. The connection be- 
tween oily food and bile in the stomach. The mischief produced by 
an oily diet. Yet such food is necessary when it is very cold. Dr. 
Kane on Arctic diet. Corn bread suitable as winter food. People 
in general consume far too much oil. Ditference in the digestibility 
of oils. Very much depends upon the manner in which it is in- 
troduced into the stomach. The amount of oil in milk a good ex- 
ample for the cook. Sugar as a constituent of food. Proportion 
of sugar in various substances used as food. Sugar in moderate 
quantities is not injurious. Difference between cane sugar and 
grape sugar. Two practical conclusions for the house-keeper de- 
rived from this difference. Pectin ACEOUS foods. Vegetable jellies 
and acids. Their function in the system. Chemical salts in the 
body and in food. Phosphorus, Sulphur, Iron, Lime and Salt. 
Fluorine, Magnesium, and Potash, 26-54 



CIIAFIER III. 

NUTRITIVE POAVKU OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF FOOD. ADAP- 
TATION OF FOOD TO VARIOUS PHYSICAL DEMANDS. 

The two great classes of food, muscle-making and heat-producing, are 
blended in every proper diet. The diet of the Irish nation an in- 
stance. Reason why the Irish require but little lime in their food. 
The English, Italian, and other national dishes viewed in this light. 
The complementary value of difierent substances, a matter of great 
importance. The house-keeper should be acquainted with the nu- 
tritive powers of different dishes. Three important questions as re- 
gards every article of food. Pirst, its value for giving strength ; 
second, its heat-producing qualities ; third, the facility with which 
it is digested. Four tables given. Table I. Quantity of nitrogen or 
strength-giving power iu articles most used as food. Table II. 
Quantity of carbon or heat-producing quality in most articles of 
food. Table III. Time in which various articles of food are di- 
gested. Table IV. Articles which in themselves supply most of the 
wants of the body. Various articles of food considered in the light 
of these tables. Roasted venison and boiled rice. Salt pork and 
boiled cabbage. "Wheat bread and butter. The bean as an article 
of food for laboring men. Cabbage, oatmeal. The potato as an 
article of food. The onion as an economical vegetable. Importance 
of the question of the economical value of different vegetables. 
Milk considered as an article of food. AVliy milk is not of itself a 
perfect aliment. Dishes jiroduced by blending other articles with 
milk. Value of sour milk and butter-milk as compared with sweet 
milk. Eggs as articles of food. What eggs contain. Their di- 
gestibility depends upon the mode of cooking. Eggs should not be 
eaten with animal fat. Different sorts of bread considered. A 
meat diet. An exclusively animal diet implies two conditions of 



CONTENTS. VH 

barbarism. Liebig on tliis point. The vegetarian theory examined. 
The tendency of true civilization in respect to diet. Wliy flesli diet 
is stimulating, 55-82 



CHAPTER IV. 

GASTRONOMY. 

The proper import of the word Gastronomy. Importance of under- 
standing the subject. Analysis of a good breakfast. The different 
dishes discussed. Importance of variety. Suitable breakfast dishes ; 
several given. The demands of cold weather. Breakfast for a 
winter morning, and reasons. A good winter dinner with discus- 
sion of the different dishes. A word about soup. In what respects 
the summer dinner should vary from the winter dinner. Four es- 
sential requisites in a feast. Reference to Eve's hospitalities in 
Paradise, 83-98 



chaptp:r v. 

SELKCTION, PRESKUVATION, AXD COOKKRl' OF MEATS. 

The superiority of a flesh diet. Americans by nature a flesh-consuming 
people. No other way of economizing the grass of our great plains. 
Pork objected to. The selection of beef. Choice cuts in an animal. 
How to broil steaks. Roast beef. Beef d-la-mode. To make a beef 
stew. To make a soup or broth. To bake beef in a Dutch oven. 
Mutton for the table. Its rank among other articles of food. Special 
directions in butchering mutton, and the reasons. Three modes of 
cooking mutton chops. To " prepare" a leg of mutton. Toboilaleg 
of mutton. To roast a leg of mutton. To roast or bake fowls. To 
broil a chicken. To stew an old turkey or goose. Of the preserva- 
tion of meats. The objection to salted meats. Dr. Morgan's new 
method. An excellent rule for preserving hams. The Maryland 
receipt. To keep fresh meats for some weeks. 1st. By the use of 
snow. 2d. By the use of sugar. 3d. By the use of oatmeal. 4th. 
With chloride of lime. Directions for the preservation of eggs and 
of milk, 101-130 

CHAPTEE* VI. 

FISH AND ITS PREPARATIONS. 

Itank offish as nutritive food. Peculiarity of fish as diet. Suitable for 
many invalids and for sedentary persons. It reduces the weight of 
fleshy people. Directions for the cleansing of fish. To fry mountain 
trout. To cook all kinds of small fish. To broil fresh shad, salmon, 
and mackerel. Directions for baking fish. Mr. Blot's rule. To fry 
large fish. To cook salt mackerel. Two ways of cooking salt codfish. 
Boiled codfish. Oysters stewed, scalloped, broiled on the shell, 131-140 



VIII CX)NTENTS. 



CIIArTER VII. 

VKOKTAHLES, AND HOW TO DRESS TIIEM. 

Thfi distinction botweon fruits and vegetables. Tlic tables and practical 
conclusions of I'rofessor Loomis as to the value of vegetables for 
food. Combination of vegetables with stronger food. Potatoes, 
how to boil or steam them. Sweet potatoes, how to cook and serve. 
Fried potatoes. Potato cake. How to cook onions. How to cook 
beans. Tomatoes, raw, stewed, baked, and fried. Tomato toast. 
Egg plant. Time of boiling the various garden vegetables. The 
cereal grains as vegetables. How to cook cracked wheat. Rule 
for making samp and hominy. How to prepare oatmeal mush, and 
its excellence as food. Kice considered as an article of diet. Di- 
rections for cooking it, 141-156 

CHAPTER VIII. 

BREAD. 

The accomplishment of bread-making characterized. Superiority of 
wheat bread and of wheat-consuming nations. Bread as a civil- 
izer. Navy bread contrasted with tlie finest quality of raised bread, 
l^ffect of leaven or yeast. In what the skill of the domestic baker 
consists. The best quality of wheat flour described. Bread-making 
cliemically considered. Various kinds of yeast considered, witli 
rules for making hop yeast. Minute directions for making hop- 
yeast bread. Potato yeast. How to make it and use it. Jlilk-yeast 
or salt-rising bread. Adulterations in baker's bread. Graham bread. 
3Iinute directions for making it. Rye bread, and how to make it. 
Rye and Indian, or Boston brown bread, with minute directions. 
Should bread be oaten cold or warm ? Some hot bread much less 
injurious than others. Reason of this. Recipes for Jolinny cake, 
egg bread, corn-batter bread, breakfast corn cakes, Missouri corn 
cakes, 157-179 

CHAPTER IX. 

TPIE PRESERVATION OF VEGETABLE FOOD AND FRUITS. 

A distinction between vegetables and fruits. Difference in vegetables 
as to keeping. Directions for wintering potatoes in the best manner. 
The preservation of winter apples. Some of the leading varieties 
mentioned. Proper mode of gatliering and stoning. Grapes, and 
how to keep them. Three general methods of preserving fruits by 
expelling the air, by drying, and by combining with sugar. Di- 
rections for canning peaches, strawberries, and other fruits. General 
rules for preserving. Special directions for peaches, quinces, 
brandy peaches, plums, cherries, etc. Directions for quince marma- 
/aiU', (luince jelly, raspberry and blackberry jam, and for jellies of the 



CONTENTS. iX 

currant, blackborrj', raspberry, and grape. To preserv'e pears and 
apples. General remarks about pickles, with special directions for 
pickling cucumbers in four ways. Tomato pickle. Pickled peaches, 
mangoes, 173-1'Jl 

CHAPTER X. 

THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 

Gardening proceeds on the same principles as good house-keeping. 
The first step to secure preservation of all fertilizing products of the 
house. Minute directions, with plan. Directions with regard to 
draining and subsoiling a garden. How a garden should be laid 
out. Importance of planting currant, raspberry, and blackberry 
bushes. AVhat vegetables are best in a Laborer's or farmer's garden. 
Directions for the onion bed. Suggestions with regard to cabbages, 
and the best mode of raising them. A word about peas, beans, and 
the roots commonly cultivated in gardens. Importance of keeping 
gardens entirely free of weeds throughout the season, . . 192-200 

CHAPTER XI. 

cows, HENS, AND BEES. 

In what forms of industry should the house-keeper employ her timet 
Practical thoughts on this point. The care of a cow not laborious, 
well suited to the strength and temper of a female. Various sugges- 
tions with regard to the keeping of cows and the care of milk. 
The experience of Zadoc Pratt referred to. One very common rea- 
son why so much butter is ill-fiavored. Directions as to the working, 
salting, and moulding of butter. How to keep milk sweet for some 
time. Use to be made of buttermilk and clabber or coagulated milk. 
The care of POiiLTnY. How much a woman may accomplish by 
moderate care and industry in this line. Directions about keeping 
HKNS. The proper number. Their yard or range. Roosting-place, 
arrangement for laying and setting. Practical suggestions with 
regard to the food for fowls. Reasons why they must have animal 
food in order to lay well. Grain food best for them. Young cliick- 
ens. A common error about feeding aiul t.aking care of them. How 
to prevent and cure the gapes. Directions about turkeys, ducks, and 
the saving of the droppings of all fowls. Bees. As yet very 
little kept in this country. Some remarks of Mrs. Tupper quoted. 
General directions about keeping bees. Hives, wintering, etc. 
The profits of this form of industry, 207-232 

CHAPTER XII. 

CAKES, DESSERTS, AND DELICACIES. 

Delicacies and luxuries are in universal use. They form an index 
of tlic degree of civilization. They are not likely to be dis- 



CONTENTS. 

pensed with. The reason why cake is indigestible and at the 
same time delicious. How cake can be made digestible. Sponge 
cake. The essential difficulty to be overcome in this respect. The 
importance of Ihc thorough blendinj; of all the ingredients. Best 
form of cake pan. Puddings. The distaste of the French for this 
dish and the fondness of the English. How Mr. Blot explains the 
difference. A short English stanza on pudding. What Hume says. 
The true principle to be observed in puddings. Pastry. Kot rec- 
ommended because indigestible. Pastry requires uncommon care in 
making. Pies. Some precautious and facts to be remembered in 
making pies. Instructions for making and cooking them. Ice Cream. 
A luxury not beyond the means or the skill of most countrj' families. 
The dishes necessary for making it with minute directions for each 
Btep ..... 2.33-248 

CHAPTER XIII. 

children's food. 

Two scientific truths at the bottom of right conceptions on this 
subject. These truths stated and illustrated. A thought about fruit in 
connection with children. The subject summed up in eight rules for 
the diet of children, 249-253 



CHAPTER XIV. 

FOOD FOU THE SICK AND AGED. 
Important to know the nature of the disease before proscribing 
diet. A sure and excellent recipe for making gruel, by an ac- 
complished and remarkable nurse. Kecipe for beef tea. Toast 
water. Flax-seed tea and egg brandy. Dishes proper in convales- 
cence, with recipes for milk punch and egg nog. The difficulties of 
digestion and nourishment with the aged. The best dishes for them 
and the most suitable beverages, 254-260 

CHAPTER XV. 

BEVERAGES. 

Three infusions in common use among different nations for drink. Lie- 
big's discovery with regard to them. Tea, coffee and cocoa, specially 
adapted to the human system. Their use not likely to be dispensed 
with. Americans, as a nation, are coffee-drinkers. The true differ- 
ence between Java, Mocha, and Rio, and how this difference arises. 
Reason of the superiority of Mocha and of the inferiority of Rio. 
Coffee the proper beverage for the inhabitants of moist, warm cli- 
mates. Effect of coffee on the bile. Difficulty of making delicious 
coffee. Specific directions for roasting the berry. How coffee should 



CONTENTS. XI 

be ground. Different arrangements for making coffee. The Fecia 
and Old Dominion coffee-pot. Excellent coffee can be made witliout 
them. Minute directions given. A perfect cup of coffee described. 
Weak coffee as objectionable as strong coffee. Coffee better for a 
summer than a winter drink. Tea and its varieties. Difference be- 
tween black and green. Tlie testimony of Lieblg in favor of tea 
and coffee. Chocolate and how it should be prepared. Recipes for 
spring beer, ginger beer, , . . 261-276 



CHAPTER XVI. 

CLOTHING IX GENERAL. 

Importance of purchasing and making up clothing in the best manner. 
Amount of clothing should be according to the temperature. Why 
the fabric worn next the skin should always be of the same material. 
The principal fabrics mentioned. Characteristics of linen. Objec- 
tions to it. Cotton fabrics. Animal wool. Why preferable to 
every other material for clothing. Peculiarly adapted for farmers, 
for all who lead lives of exposure, for females, and for children. 
Best time to purchase and make up flannel. Best way of cutting 
children's under flannels. All compression of the body to be avoided, 

277-282 

chaptp:r XVII. 

THE FITTING AND MAKING OF CLOTHING. 

Practicability of making at home nearly all the garments worn in the 
family. Saving thus made both of expense in money and time. 
Illustrated by figures. Directions for cutting out a pair of pants. 
First step in making them up. Next steps in succession until they 
are finished. Directions for cutting out a vest. What to do first in 
making it. What next, etc., until it Is done. Making of children's 
clothing. Making shirts — first steps, second, third, last. Full direc- 
tions for cutting and making a man's s.ack or business coat, and over- 
coat. Minute instructions for fitting and making ladies' dresses, 283-303 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

ECONOMIES OF DRESS. 

Effects of the war on different classes of our population. City influence 
upon country people. Necessity for studying economy of dress. 
Two fundamental principles stated. The poor economy of purclias- 
ing inferior clotiis. The care that should be taken of garments. 
Dress should be suited to the occasion. In purchasing, regard 
should be had to the various uses to which a piece of cloth may be 
put. Gaiters and shoes recommended for men, instead of boots. 
The manufacture of quilts and rugs, with special directions and 



XII CONTENTS. 

piigraviiif;s. Suggpstions as to tlie covering of <lie foot. Recipe tor 
11 leatlicr preservative. UcciiM's for dyeing slate color; butternut; 
orange ; black ; deep blue. To dye a silk a rich brown. To color 
with tea 304-317 

CHAPTER XIX. 

INFANCY. 

The sacred joy of maternity. Natural anxiety of the mother to take 
the best care of her cliild. The first and most obvious mistake. 
Thousands of infants killed with kindness. The mere act of crying 
not injurious. Food of infants in general. The chemical difference 
between cow's milk and woman's milk, rractical rules derived from 
this statement. Other substances suitable for young cliildren. The 
proper dress for an infant. Its parts described, with reasons for an 
abundance of flannel in an infant's wardrobe. Importance of clean- 
liness and regularity. The supreme importance of giving even 
young children plenty of pure air. A daily routine suggested as to 
food, sleep, airing, and bathing. Simple remedies for colic. Nox- 
ious effects of opium preparations of all kinds. Suggestions to the 
mother with regard to her milk. Kcmcdy for snuflles. A simple 
and effective mode of treatment for colds, coughs, and whooping 
cough in all young children. Remedies and preventive of diarrhoea 
and looseness. Treatment during teething. Importance of avoid- 
ing miscellaneous medicines. The wardrobe of a baby ; its parts de- 
scribed. Three important rules for washing baby flannels. Rule 
for knitting a baby's shirt. The baby's basket. The profound hap- 
piness of true motherhood, 318-340 



CHAPTER XX. 

DOMESTIC HYGIENE. 

Necessity that every housewife should be familiar with tlie fundamental 
laws of health. General rule as regards food laid down. Maxim 
as to clothing. Ventilation a matter of prime importance. Bad 
air is slow poison. Illustrations. Diseases develoi :ed by bad air. 
Effects of out-door exercises upon very delicate constitutions. 3Iiss 
Hosmer an example. The problem of the ventilation of rooms dis- 
cussed. The proper airing and cleansing of bed-clothes, carpets, 
and rugs. Personal cleanliness, and conclusions respecting it. Ex- 
ercise in the open air can find no substitute in household labors. 
Effects of a rapid and cheerful walk. The late and correct doctrine 
with regard to sleep. — Eight hours out of twenty- four the rule. 
Materials of beds discussed. The interval between the last meal 
and sleep. Size, openings, and ventilation of sleeping-rooms. Sleep 
before midnight far the best. Jlidnight writings and studies depre- 
cated. What a mother may hope for a son no part of whose educa- 
tion has been neglected 341-368 



CONTENTS. XIU 



CHAPTER XXI. 

DOMESTIC REMEDIES. 

The house-keeper of necessity a physicisan in her own family. Derange- 
ments of health result in general from improper food or insufficient 
clothing. What to do in slight derangements of the stomach and 
bowels. When a medical man should be called. Diet in such cases. 
Chalk mixture as a remedy. Two admirable remedies for wasting 
diarrhoea and bad digestion. Colds, and how they are taken. How 
they should be treated. An instance of Injudicious management 
and its almost fatal consequences. The croup. Its terrible character 
as a disease. Full details of its symptoms and the proper treatment. 
What to do when a cold threatens to merge into pneumonia. An 
excellent cough syrup. Local pains, such as headache, toothache, 
earache, and remedies prescribed. Steps to be taken ''mmediately in 
cases of deep cuts or broken limbs. Treatment of severe burns and 
scalds. Several remedies mentioned. The magical effects of arnica 
tincture. Treatment of poisonous stings and bites. Antidotes for 
various poisons. List of domestic medicines that should be kept 
const.antly on hand. Recipes for a healing salve for sores. A salve 
for burns. Liniment for sprains and bruises. Liniment for weak 
back. Plaster for a thorn or splinter. To remove fetid smells from 
sores. Dressing for carbuncle. Treatment for boils. Disinfecting 
fluids, and how to use them. How to act in a case of sudden and 
Bevere burning. Treatment in freezing and dro\vnms:, . . 35y-3SS 



CHAPTER XXII. 

DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE AND ORNAMENTATION. 

A woman very often called upon for an intelligent opinion with regard 
to a plan for a dwelling-house. I'oint at which a house plan should 
begin. Economy of movement the great end to be obtained in plan- 
ning a kitchen. Arrangements by which this economy of movement 
may be secured. Kitchen plan No. I. fully described. Plan No. II. 
as an instance offaulty and inconvenient arrangement. Plan No. III. 
an instance of tidy and admirable grouping. Plan No. IV. an e.x eel- 
lent one for an expensive house. The relation of the building to the 
grounds around it. Immense advantage of having w.ater broiiglit 
into the house. Different modes of warming discussed. Adjust- 
ment of the fireplaces with respect to the windows. The interior 
finish of rooms. Recipe for a cheap paint for out-buildings. How 
much may be accomplished by woman in the interior decoration of 
a house. A large number of designs with minute instructions liow 
to proceed. Directions for making tasteful boxes and for tlie prep- 
aration of skeleton leaves and phantom bouquets, . . . 389-435 
2 



XIV CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

WAYS OF MAKING PIN-MONEY. 
The general condition of women in our coiintrj'. Girls and boys educated 
much alike. The wide difi'ereuce in the rewards of their industry. 
The mode of earning pin-money by sewing considered; objections 
suggested. Out-of-door industries recommended ; care of hens and 
bees ; what it may be made to pay. Cultivation of vines ; berries and 
frnits; strawberry-beds, grape-vines. In-door methods suggested, and 
described, 43C-447 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

TRAINING OF SERVANTS AND CHILDRKN. 
The policy of having servants. An unreasonable jrejudice against it in 
many families. Various liints on the relation 1 etween tl:e liousewifc 
and her maid. Suggestions on the best modes of instructing and 
training a young or raw house-girl. Duty of instructing daughters and 
sons in domestic economy. Its greatradvantages to all concerned, 448-460 

CHAPTER XXV. 

now TO MAKE HOME HArPY. 
Tnie marriage the corner-stone of the ideal home. Other requisites nec- 
essary. Importance of teacliing children to perform household tasks. 
Value of intimacy belw en jiarents and children. Family government. 
Recreation at home. The importance of books, .... 461-468 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

TABLE SETTING AND SERVING. 
The table the test of reiinement, How to set the table. How to ger\-e the 
dishes. Etiquette of dinners, 409-473 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

WASHING, IRONING, HOUSE-CLEANING, ETC. 
Food on washing day. Early rising. Facilities for washing. Treatment 
of flannels. White clothes. Washing by the suu heat. The drying- 
room. Starching. Poli:-hing. Cleansing carpets. Ironing. House- 
cleaning. Bedsteads. Furniture, 474-480 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 
Beds of various kinds discussed, with reference to their cheapness and 
comfort. Modes of house-warmimr. and various kinds of fuel Sun 
dry sut'c-ostions as to thrift, neatness, economy, and onler. Misrci- 
laneous recipes. The hour-ewifc. s tabic of weights and measures, 481-509 



THE 



PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE ALIMKXTAKY rilOCESS. 

"When woman is cleviited, by nssiiming at once 
the position of her highest happiness and her great- 
est responsibility as the "wife and the mother, what 
is the nature of the duty which she assumes? It is, 
in general, to make a direct application of the means 
necessary to comfortable subsistence to the persons 
composing her family. The staff of life is, as it 
were, committed to her hands. She becomes the 
dispenser of bread. Siie makes the last and most 
direct use of every agency by which the lease of our 
lives is prolonged, by which the demands of the 
perishing body are met, by which fulness and com- 
fort and joy are made to burnish the figures of the 
household gods at the family hearthstone. 

The fate of man is sterner. He, with superior 
strength and superior courage, breasts nature in 

15 



• 



16 THE rillLOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

hvv ruggetlncss, and wrings from her silent bosom, 
with the sweat of his brow, the raw material, the 
mair:iz:incs, by which the long contest with decay and 
Avith death is made possible. 

Since to Avoman, then, is assigned the sacred func- 
tion of trinniiing the lamp of life and replenishing 
its ever-wasting oil, how can she keep the flame 
pcrpetuall}- bright and clear without a knowledge of 
the subtle and wonderful machinery within ? 

To aid her in gaining a clear conception of the 
nutritive demands of these frames of ours, thus ever 
Avasting and ever renewed, avc propose to discuss, in 
a simple and Avholly practical manner, the organs 
and the processes by Avhich man is nourished and 
kept alive. 

An adult person, in a fair degree of health, and 
of the average weight, takes into his system every 
twenty-four hours, through the lungs and mouth, 
about eight and a quarter pounds of dry food, Avatcr, 
and air necessarv for respiration. Tlie same amount 
is also thrown olF from the body through four Avaste- 
pipes, or avenues of discharge, — the pores of the 
skin, the lungs, the kidnej's, and the loAver intes- 
tines. The supply and corresponding Avaste amount 
in the course of a year to one and a half tons, or 
three thousand pounds. 

Thus every human life may be compared to the 



THE ALIMENTAKY PllOCESS. 17 

wick of a lump, burning day and night unceasingly, 
and consuming in the course of a year three thou- 
sand pounds of oil. As the steadiness and brilliancy 
of the flame of a lamp depend as much upon the 
quality and amount of oil with which it is supplied, 
as upon the original texture of the wick, so the 
comfort, vigor, and efficiency of a human life are in 
the same degree influenced by the aliment which 
sustains that life, as by the quality of its original 

constitution. 

Every mother and every yvito may then regard 
herself as a vestal priestess in the temple of exist- 
ence, and charged with the sacred duty of keeping 
the flame ever bright upon the altar of life. 

The alimentary canal in the human body is about 
thirty-six feet long, commencing wdtli the mouth 
and terminating with the lower intestine. With the 
exception of the stomach, which is an irregularly 
shaped sack or j)ouch, this canal is a tube, into 
which, at various points, digestive juices arc poured 

i 

from glands which secrete them, and the entire lining 
membrane is i^rovided with a series of mouths or 
absorbing vessels which drink up from the alimentary 
mass, as it passes downwards, the various juices 
which are required to support life. 

The first of these digestive juices is the saliva, 
which is minsrlcd with the food in the mouth while 



18 THK rniLOSOl'lIY OF JIOUSE-KKEl'ING. 

chewed, and ^vhleli, aided by thorough niastieatioii, 
reduces it to the consistency of paste before it is 
introduced to tlie more vigorous and complicated 
action of the stomach. Here food remains gen- 
erally from one to six or seven hours, according to 
its digest il)ility, and, as stomach digestion pro- 
gresses, a considerable portion is absorbed l)y the 
little mouths of its lining mcml)rane, and the residue 
poured through a circular gateway into the intestines, 
"wlierc two otlier juices, one from the liver and the 
other from the pancreas or sweet-bread, both pow- 
erful solvents, are mixed with it. Here again the 
al)sorbents are busy, and, as it passes on, they drink 
lip everything that has power to nourish, leaving 
only matter that is quite useless. 

There are two grand demands of the body which 
are met by food : one is the replacing of minute 
parts of all the frame, and especially of the muscles 
that are Avorn out by the motions of the limbs and 
, organs ; the other is the necessity of keeping the 
heat of the body, in all climates and seasons, at 
98*^, — the temperature of the hottest noons of July. 

The most general division of food is one that 
recognizes these two prime demands : one, the 
restoration of worn tissues ; the other, the supply 
of fuel ; and, since Liobig, pliysiologists have, ac- 



THE ALIMENTARY PROCESS. 19 

cordiugly, divided food into tissue-making and heat- 
producing. 

It is to be observed that in proportion to the 
complexity and perfection of the organisms of life, 
a greater variety of food is required. The stupid 
reptile gorges himself once a month, perhaps, with 
the carcass of its prey. The cow and horse daily 
crop their simple and fragrant food from a score of 
different grasses. INIan, with a nature far more 
complicated and delicate ; w ith wastes of the nervous 
system from ceaseless activity of the mind as well 
as of the muscles to be constantly supplied ; with the 
necessity of adjusting himself to all climates, all 
sorts of weather, and social and mental conditions 
that change unceasingly ; might naturally be sup- 
posed to be omnivorous. And, in fact, as he 
advances in civilization, we find him drawing his 
food from a larger and larger variety of substances, 
coming from remote and often opposite quarters of 
the globe. This exhaustlcss variety' addresses itself^ 
gratefully to different parts of the alimentary canal. 
Some substances, as fruits, give delight and refresh- 
ment as soon as their delicious juices touch the lips 
and tongue ; and others, as the strong and ricli 
meats, remain compai-atively undigested till mixed 
with the powerful solvents from the liver and pan- 
creas in the upper part of the intestines. Observe 



20 THE I'jiiLosoriiY or house-keeping. 

that the mouth, guarded as it is by the lips and 
then by the teeth against the intrusion of unwhole- 
some or noxious substances, commences the aliment- 
ary process by grinding the hard portions of the 
food, by mingling all substances taken into it with 
saliva, and by absorbing some of the more delicate 
juices, especially of fruits, before they are swal- 
lowed. The saliva is not a moistcner only. It has 
chemical properties which fit the food for being 
further acted upon by the gastric juice in the 
stomach. Hence it is a very common but mis- 
chievous practical error to suppose that water, or any 
other beverage in general use at the table, is a sub- 
stitute for the saliva. As a rule, they retard rather 
than promote digestion, and should be taken, when 
eating, in very small quantities. For this reason 
crusts of bread, crackers, and other firm food are 
considered particularly wholesome. The necessity 
for mastication rrives time enoujjh for the Hoav of 
saliva and for its being properly mingled with every 
part of the substance. The guarding from any im- 
proper intrusion by the mouth and lips is a type of 
what occurs several times over i«L the lower parts of 
the alimentaiy canal. The entrance to the stomach 
is secured by strong muscular lips, which are only 
opened to receive the food as it passes down the 
oesophagus or gullet. 



Tlir: ALI.AIEXTAKY PROCESS. 21 

The stomach is a vaulted chamber or vessel com- 
posed of three walls or coats. The inner coat is 
made up of little compartments, placed side by side, 
which open into its cavity and are overspread by a 
mesh of the smallest blood-vessels. The interior 
face of the stomach forms a kind of honeycombed 
surfiice, crowded with little mouths, and when the 
organ is roused l:)y the presence of food, these are 
red and turgid with blood. At this time, also, 
numerous little points waken up upon the membrane 
and give forth a dissolvent liquid termed the gastric 
juice. This is for the stomach what saliva is for 
the mouth. It still farther dilutes and dissolves the 
food, releasing from it such juices as the blood- 
vessels of the stomach can take up and pour into the 
circulating medium of the body. It shoidd be 
borne in mind, as forming a fundamental rule to 
guide in cookery, that this juice or solvent acts only 
ujDon the sui^faces of substances introduced to the 
stomach. Hence lightness or porosity in bread and 
many other substances is a matter of prime neces- 
sit}', so that the gastric fluid may have free access 
to as large a surfacS as possible. Thus, for instance, 
an ounce of wheat flour moistened with water, if 
taken into the stomach, would form a tough, close, 
and gummy mass, presenting but a small surface, 
and very difficult of digestion. The same amount 



22 THE PHILOSOPHY OF IIOUSE-KEEPIXG. 

of flour, made into good, light bread, would permit 
the solvent to act upon it through a thousand little 
jiores and interstices, and be quite thoroughly di- 
gested in an hour and a half. 

As soon as good food enters the stomach, it be- 
gins to nourish. Some juices, lilie those of fruit, 
can be at once taken up by the little mouths that 
dot the interior surface. Others are speedily pro- 
duced by the action of the gastric fluid ; and, as fast 
as evolved, they are drank up and poured into the 
blood. 

Some food, as venison, is digested in an hour. 
Other substances, as boiled cal^bage, the white of 
eggs cooked hard, or fried salt pork, require sev- 
eral hours — about four — to become completely 
dissolved. There is a class of substances, more- 
over, which, though nutritious, arc not made avail- 
able by stomach digestion. These are the oily and 
fatty portions of food. The gastric juice mingles 
with these substances, but does not dissolve them. 
It is not until they have passed through the orifice 
leading from the stomach into the intestines, where 
the bile and the pancreatic jui(^ are jjoured upon 
them, that they can be taken up by the lacteals and 
made available in lung combustion. An important 
and practical corollary may be drawn from this 
fact : that no cookery is good which introduces oily 



THE ALIMENT AKY TROCESS. 23 

substances into the stomach in a crude and uncom- 
bined form. Any oil swallowed raw is a medicine, 
an emetic, or a cathartic, utterly useless for nutri- 
tive purposes. And in proportion as the fatty 
substances of food are skilfully combined by the 
arts of cookery, will they remain in the stomach 
without producing derangement, and pass kindlj'' 
on to a lower compartment, where they are utilized 
and assimilated. Thus, for instance, half-a-pound 
of lard made into light and flaky pie-crust, by 
thorough and skilful mixing with the other ingre- 
dients, will not derange the stomach, while the 
same amoimt imperfectly blended, and forming a 
heavy, greasy crust, will produce indigestion, and 
perhaps in delicate stomachs work great mischief. 

Thus it will be seen that every part of the alimen- 
tary canal requires to be fed Avith food convenient 
for it : the mouth with savory tastes, delicious 
flavors, and the more subtle and delicate parts of 
food, which are immediately taken up by the absorb- 
ents that line the mouth and palate. This is illus- 
trated by the fact that the mere holding in the mouth, 
and gargling the 4hroat with, brandy and water, 
will revive and stimulate a person that is greatly 
exhausted. In the stomach, a large part of the 
muscle-making and blood-repairing digestion is car- 
ried on. Here it is that the gluten of flour, the 



24 THE niiLOSOPHY of house-keeping. 

curd of milk, ami the tibro of llesli, go directly to 
reinforce the blood, und supply muscular waste. 
In the intestines, or lower compartment, the rich, 
oily, starchy, and saccharine parts of food are 
wrought over, some parts into tissue, others iu 
repairing the general wastes of the frame, and 
others are sent up to the lungs as fuel, for keeping 
up the animal heat. 

It is the duty of every person, then, who pre- 
sides over a household, to bring to her station such 
a knowledge of these elementary principles of nutri- 
tion as shall enable her to provide for the different 
members of her family, food suited to their age, 
health, occupations, and the climate in its changes. 
She should know what food is b(!st for tlic laborer, 
what for the sedentar}^ person, when tissue- making 
quality in food should bo supplied to meet an un- 
wonted muscular waste, and when the falling of the 
thermometer calls upon her to la}^ upon the table, 
and incorporate with other food, those elements 
which serve as fuel in the bod}'. She should be 
able to minister to the gratification of the jDalate, 
without sacrificing 4;hc ease of 4he stomach ; for it 
b}' no means follows that food which gives the 
greatest delight in the mouth, will be equally agree- 
al)lc when swallowed. A celebrated French cook 
was heard to say, that with what every one of the 



THE ALIMENTARY PROCESS. 25 

guests should pronounce a splendid dinner, he 
woidd give a lirst-class indigestion, and not one of 
them should he ahle to tell the reason "why. 

The provider of home comforts has it in her 
power to do more than merely to meet physical 
demands. She ma}^ make her table the school of 
manners, the centre of delights that are at onco 
physical and intellectual. 

The lips, tongue, and palate were not equipped 
with that delicate reticulation of nerves merely to 
discriminate between substances that are food, and 
those that are noxious or useless. They are not 
arbiters simply, but designed by Providence to ele- 
vate wdiat would otherwise be a gross and sensual 
act by uniting it with the graces of refinement, the 
charms of society, and the rational deliirhts of 
conversation. 

The accommodated use of the word taste teaches 
us a lesson here, since it has come to signify what- 
ever is refined and of good fashion in the objects of 
our knowledge. There is no surer Avay of culti- 
vatins; a love for whatever is most becomincf and 
aj^propriate in morals, deportment, and fine art, 
than by skilfully arranging and properly adjusting 
all the appliances for nourishing the body ; and in 
this view gastronomy and cookery approach the 
rejrion of the fine arts. 



2G THE piiiLosoriiY or house-keeping. 
CHAPTER II. 

THE CIIE31ISTHY OF FOOD. 

The foregoing chapter on the alimentary process 
shows that food, when taken into the system, goes 
mostly to one of two processes, each of which is 
alike indispensable for either health or strength. 

The chief part of what we eat is consumed by 
the lungs as fuel, and keeps the body at a healthy 
temperature. The rest, excepting small portions 
of mineral substances, such as lime, potash, and 
sulphur, goes to the production of muscular and 
mental force. 

On this ground we have the most general, and, 
at the same time, the most scientific division of all 
articles of diet. As the heat of the bod}' is mainly 
produced by breathing, those parts of food Avhich 
are consumed for this purpose are called respira- 
tor}', or heat-producing. As all force implies the 
using up of muscular or nervous tissue, the other 
kind of nutriment i^ called muscle-making, or tissue- 
making, or plastic food. In the final chemical 
analysis, when food is reduced to gases and various 
mineral constituents, the essential difierence in these 
kinds of food is found to consist in the presence or 



THE CHEMISTRY OF FOOD. 27 

absence of nitrogen. Hence some pli3'siological 
writers divide food into lutrogenous and non-nitro- 
genous. This is only a more technical "way of 
saying heat-making and muscle-making. 

In order to gain a clear practical idea of this 
difference, let us take an ordinary dinner of lean 
beef, roast or broiled, and rice pudding. In eating 
a hundred grains of the muscular beef, one takes 
into his system fifteen grains of nitrogen. The 
same weight of rice yields but a little more than 
one grain of nitrogen ; but it gives eighty-five grains 
of starch, of which nearly one-half is carbon, a 
substance of which charcoal is the tj-pe, and which 
is consumed in the body to produce warmth. In 
this case the oily matters, as butter or the fat of 
meat, usually eaten with rice, are left out of vieW' 
They are useful mainly as heat-producers. 

The principal articles of our food may, on thic 
basis, be divided into three groups ; first, those in 
which nitrogen is the chief element, and which go 
to make tissue ; second, those in which carbon is 
the chief element, and which go to make bodily 
warmth ; and third, those in Avhich the two aro 
quite evenly blended, as in milk, eggs, and coarsely 
ground Avheat. 

Another and very correct wa}^ of estimating the 
value and amount of different kinds of food required, 



28 THE niiLOSopiiY of iiouse-keepixg. 

is by ytudying the composition of our blood, and 
the relation of food to it. 

It is a Avcll-established fact in anatomy, that in n 
healthy person every part of the blood makes fre- 
quent visits to the heart and lungs, and that the 
effect Avrought upon it in the lungs is produced by 
oxygen, the active and pungent clement in the air. 
The amount of blood in a healthy adult is about 
twenty-live pounds, of which about nineteen and 
one-fifth pounds are water, leaving five and four- 
fifths pounds of solid matter. In order to convert 
the carbon and hydrogen contained in these five 
pounds into carbonic acid gas and water, something 
more than sixty-four thousand grains (French 
measure) of oxygen are required. As in ordinary 
breathing a person absorbs through the lungs into 
his system a little more than thirty-two ounces, or 
about two pounds of oxygen, in every twenty-four 
hours, it would require something over four days to 
inhale the whole amount necessar}^ to oxygenate 
the blood. Now, as the weight of a healthy man 
changes very slightly in that time, it follows that in 
four days and a few hours he ought to receive as 
much of these elements — carbon, nitrogen, water, 
and other constituents — as will make twenty-four 
pounds of blood. Since eighty per cent, or nine- 
teen pounds of blood is water, it follows that about 



THE CHEMISTRY OF rOOI). 29 

six pounds of the diy matter of the blood shoiiM 
be found in the food consumed by a man in four 
days. 

In what substances do we find the same elements 
as in the blood? The substance richest in nitrogen, 
tlio blood and nmscle making element, is animal 
albumen, of which a perfect instance is found in the 
white of an egg. The lean or red parts of beef, 
mutton, venison, and chicken contain nearly the 
same percentage of nitrogen as the white of an 
egg ; that is, about fifteen per cent., or not far from 
one-seventh. The curd of milk, also, contains it, 
and a considerable amount is found in peas, beans, 
and wheat. If food were taken altogether as a 
nourishcr, to reinforce the constantly wasting mus- 
cles, these articles would be the only food required ; 
in short, man would be by constitution a carnivo- 
rous animal, since the blood is more j)rOmptly rein- 
forced from flesh than from any other article of 
diet. 

But, as above stated, the reinforcement of the 
blood is not the sole reason, in fact not the chief 
reason, for taking food. The carbon stands to the 
nitrogen, in well-jiroportioned food, in the ratio of 
five to one ; that is, we swalloAV five ounces for 
warmth, to one for strength. 

Of the substances taken into the S3'stem for 



30 TJIE I'lilLO.SOrJlY OF lIOLiSE-KEEriNG. 

warmth, those composed maUily of starch are the 
most bulky, and compose the chief part of the food 
of the greater portion of mankind. It is universally 
distributed in the vegetable kingdom, and exists in 
many plants -which are not used as food. 

When a potato is grated, and the pulp -washed in 
a succession of waters, each time allowing the sedi- 
ment to be deposited, there will be seen at the 
bottom of the vessel a floury substance, perfectly 
white, and having a dry, crispy feeling between the 
fingers. This is starch, and consists of very small, 
rounded grains, that cannot be seen Avith the naked 
eye. The starch grains of the potato are larger, 
and of different shape from those of wheat, rice, 
arrow-root, or Indian corn. 

The following table from Pcrcira, who takes 
Dr. Prout as his authority, shows the chemical 
analysis of different kinds of starch : — 

COMPOSITION OF STARCH. 

Fine wheat starch 

Fine wheat starch, dried, at 212 degrees, . 
Fine wheat, highly dried, at ooO degrees. 

Arrow-root starch, 

Arrow-root, dried, at 212 degrees, . 
Arrow-root, Jiighly dried, at 350 degrees, . 

Thus it a|)pcars that nearly one-half the bulk of 
ordinary dry starch is carbon. The remainder is 



;jarboii. 


Water. 


37.5 


02.5 


42.8 


57.2 


44.0 


50.0 


3C.4 


03.6 


42.8 


57.2 


44.4 


55.6 



THE CHEMISTRY OF FOOD. 31 

called Avater. Strictly speaking, the elements are 
carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. The two latter are 
found in starch in exactly the same proportions at 
in water ; hence, when taken into the system, its 
effect is precisely that of water. 

The starch made from wheat is seldom used as 
an article of food. Sago, tapioca, and arrow-root 
are almost identical in chemical composition, as 
each is starch, with a slight coloring matter and 
flavor that comes from the plant from which they 
are prepared. 

Sago is procured from the pith of several kinds 
of the palm-tree. Tapioca is starch extracted from 
the root of the JanijjJia manihot^ a growth of 
Brazil, the stem of which is poisonous. 

Arrow-root is a pure white jjowdcr, a very large 
percentage of which is starch. Like tapioca, it is 
prepared from the root of 3Iaran(a arundinacea, 
which grows in the West Indies, and especially in 
Bermuda, which affords the best quality of arrow- 
root. 

Corn starch is very similar to the above, except 
that its flavor is less agreeable, and it does not 
form, when boiled, so firm a jelly. The same may 
be said of potato starch. In cooking these amy- 
laceous or starchy substances, they are combined 
with milk, sugar, eggs, and butter, in the form of 



32 THE rillLOSOPHY OF HOUSP>KEEPING. 

puddings, and ure easy of digestion, but not a 
nourisliiug kind of food. 

In an ordinary tapioca or corn-starch pudding, 
there is an abundance of carbon, for it composes 
nearly half the starch, and a considerable part of 
the eggs and butter. What little plastic or tissue- 
making power such dishes have, must come from 
the nitrogen in the curd of the milk, and in the 
albumen of the egg. Liebig sa^'s that children fed 
upon arrow-root, sago, or any kind of starchy food 
which does not contain insrredients fitted for the 
formation of bone and muscle, become fat ; their 
limbs appear full, but they do not acquire strength, 
nor are their organs properly developed. This 
class of nutriments is often prescribed for the sick 
and aofed, because it is the least stimulating: of 
food, and because it goes directly to keep up the 
animal heat, which is reduced by feeble respiration 
and sedentary habits. In a healthy stomach, sago 
and tapioca are digested in an hour. 

As stated above, starch is found in all the farina- 
ceous substances that compose man's diet, but there 
is nearly twice as much of it in some grains as in 
others. The following table, b}' Professor Youmans, 
shows the percentage of starch in the grains which 
form the chief food of man : — 



THE CHEMISTRY OF FOOD. 33 

Per ct. Starch, 

In rice flour, 84 to 85 

In Indian meal, 77 to 80 

In oatmeal, 70 to 80 

In wheat flour, 39 to 77 

In barley flour, . . . . . . 67 to 70 

In rye flour, 50 to Gl 

In buckwheat, 52 

In pea and beau meal, . . . . 42 to 43 
In potatoes, which contain 75 per cent, of 

water, . . . . . • . 13 to 15 

It will be observed that iii this table Avheat flours 
are said to vary iu the quantity of starch they con- 
tain, in round numbers, from 40 to 80 per cent. ; 
that is, some are twice as rich in starch as others. 
When it is remembered that starch contains no 
element that is strictly luitritive, — for carbon is not 
a plastic or tissue-making substance, — it will be 
apparent that a flour that is rich in starch must be 
proportionally poor in gluten, oil, sugar, and gum. 
Now, there is some difierence in difierent specimens 
of wheat, but in general that difierence is only 
about five per cent. That is, of some forty kinds 
of wheat examined, the starch av;is found to vary 
from 67 to 73 per cent. 

The above difi*erence of from 39 to 77 per cent, 
in Professor Youmans' table, is the result of difier- 
ent modes of grinding and bolting. When the 
grinding and bolting are so conducted as to bring 



34 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

to the flour-barrel only the middle parts of each 
kernel, as is commonly the case in the manufacture 
of "Superfine" and "A Xo. 1 Family,'' the product 
"will he snow-white, dr\', and powder-like, and 
makes a delicate bread, which seems to melt in the 
moutli. Such flour is usually much esteemed, and 
commands a liighcr price than pale, straw-colored 
flours, that arc a little gummy to the touch, and 
give a firm and slightly dark-colored bread. Yet 
the latter variety of bread and of flour is actually 
the best, though not so much esteemed in market. 
Flour that is very Avhite, and makes a delicate 
"melting" bread, abounds in starch, and the glu- 
tinous parts which contain the most nitrogen, and 
hence the most nutrition, were removed in the bran. 
When the gluten is so abundant in wheat, and so 
well retained, by proper grinding, in the flour, that 
the nitrogen stands to the carbon as one to five, 
such flour, and the bread made from it, is extremely 
valuable as an aliment. The heat-makinir and the 

O 

muscle-making elements are both present in due 
proportions. Such food is easily digested, promptly 
assimilated, and is "with propriety called "the staff 
oflifo." 

The clement of food next in importance to starch, 
and serving much the same purpose in the body, is 
OIL. It is valuable, mainly, for its carbon or heat- 



THE CHEMISTRY OF FOOD. 35 

producing qualities. lu suet, which is so largely 
used in the kitchen, there are (neglecting the frac- 
tional divisions) eighty parts of carbon, ten of 
hydrogen, and ten of oxygen. The most general 
division of oil is into fixed and volatile. Those 
which, when smeared upon paper, produce a grease- 
spot that time and heat do not remove, are called 
fixed. Those which under such circumstances leave 
no stain, are called volatile. It is only the former 
or fixed oils, that are of much importance as an 
element of food. 

The fixed oils which compose a part of most 
food are butter, lard, and the fat of beef. The oil 
contained in various nuts, as the walnut, filbert, and 
butternut, need only be alluded to. Their compo- 
sition is nearly identical with the oils in ge'ieral 
use. 

The following table, prepared by Pereira, shows 
the oil or fat yielded by a hundred pounds' weight 
of the following substances in common use for food : 

In 100 pounds of Indian meal, 9.0 lbs. of oil. 

" " yolk of eggs, 28.75 " 

" " ordinary lean meat, 14.3 " 

" " ox liver, 3.89 " 

** " cow's milk, 3.13 " 

«♦ " bones of ox-head, 11.54 " 

" " rj'e flour, 3.5 " 

« " wheat flour, 1 to 2 " 



S6 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 



11 100 pounds oatmeal, 


6.0 lbs. ofoiL 


" barley, 


2.0 " 


" " rice, 


0.8 «' 



82.170 


11.2.02 


6..002 


do. 


79.774 


10.570 


9.122 


do. 


76.1 


12.4 


11.5 


none. 


65.6 


17.6 


16.8 


none. 


70.098 


11.14(3 


9.756 


none. 


78.996 


11.700 


9.304 


none, 



The followin2' table sIionvs the ultimate or chem- 
ical composition of some of the fixed oils or fats : — 

Carbon. Hydrogen. Oxyppiu 

Liquid olive oil, 70.036 11.545 12.008 Traces of nitrogen. 

Solid olive oil (or margarine), 82.170 

TValnut oil. 

Train oil, 

Butter, 

Hog's lard, 

Mutton suet, 

From these tal)les it appears, that while most of 
the fats contain about eighty per cent, of carbon, 
butter is much less concentrated, having only sixty- 
five jDer cent. A great difference can be noticed, 
also, in the flour of diflierent grains. Thus, Indian 
meal has nine per cent, of oil, while wheat has a 
little more, and rice a little less, than one per cent. 

As the office of oil, when taken in any form as 
food, is, mainly, to give warmth and not strength, 
it is diff^'uilt to see why it should be made to usurp 
the place of starch, by employing it to any great 
extent. It r'iffers from starch in this important 
respect, that, (\'hile oil is one of the most indigesti- 
Dic and refractory substances that can be taken into 
the stomach, starch is one of the easiest of digestion. 
Melted butter is converted into chyme (a fluid rescm- 



THE CHEMISTRY OF FOOD. 37 

bling miik) in the stomach in three and one-half 
hours, the fat of mutton in four and one-half hours, 
the fat of beef in five and one-half hours, while lean 
venison is digested in an hour, and rice, and other 
substances abounding in starch, in about the same 
time. 

In warm and temperate climates the animal oils 
are used in quantities much larger than the science 
of chemistry or physiology would suggest as neces- 
sary or Avise. In fact, recent discoveries in physi- 
ology go to show that a diet abounding in oils, and 
especially such a concentrated fat as hog's lard, 
actually perverts and deranges the digestive pro- 
cess. In a sound and normal stomach, where only 
bread and lean meat have been habitually presented, 
it is doubtful whether bile is found. 

Dr. Beaumont, who has investigated this subject 
as thoroughly as any other man, says that bile is 
found in the stomach only under peculiar circum- 
stances. "I have observed," he adds, "that when 
the use of fiit or oily food has been persevered in 
for some time, there is generally the presence of 
bile in the gastric fluids." The popular notion, 
then, that such substances cause bile in the stomach, 
is by no means groundless. The reason is this : oil 
of any sort and in any form, but especially when 
badly combined, is slowly and with great difficulty 
4 



38 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-ICEEPING. 

acted on by the gastric juice, but bile, being alkaline 
in its properties, greatly accelerates its stomach 
digestion ; but the presence of bile in the stomach 
produces an uneasiness which resembles hunger in 
feeling, though not in its cause. It promotes, also, 
the secretion of saliva ; and food is taken in conse- 
quence of the craving or uneasy sensation thus 
induced. As a matter of fact, the saliva, unblended 
with food, and the bile, are both in the nature of 
reinforcements, sent, one from the upper and the 
other from the lower regions of the alimentary 
canal, to aid the stomach in the mastery of a i-efrac- 
tory subject. 

Thus the whole process of digestion is interfered 
with ; and the mischief is only increased Avhen the 
uneasiness thus produced is mistaken for hunger, 
and more food, and perhaps more oily food, as rich 
cake, is introduced to the already overtasked stom- 
ach. The influence of heat on fatty substances 
effects various chemical changes in them, whereby 
they are rendered more difficult of digestion, and 
hence more obnoxious to the stomach. On this 
account, no food that has been cooked by frying in 
hot oil is harmless. 

Doctor Pereira says that the use of oil for food 
will be found the reason of most of the dyspeptic 
diseases. "In some more or less obvious or con- 



THE CHEMISTIIY OF FOOD. 39 

cealeJ form," says that eminent authority, "I believe 
it will be found the offendini]^ insrredient in nine- 
tenths of the dishes "svhich disturb weak stomachs. 
jNIany dyspeptics who have most religiously avoided 
the use of oil or fat in its obvious or ordinary state, 
as fat meat, marrow, butter, and oil, unwittingly 
employ it in some more concealed form, and have 
suffered in consequence. Such individuals should 
eschew the yolk of eggs, livers, and brains, all of 
which abound in oily matter. Milk, and especially 
cream, disagree with many persons, or, as they 
term it, 'lie heavy ^u the stomach,' in consequence 
•of the butter they contain. Hich cheese, fried dishes 
of all kinds, buttered toast, pastry, marrow pud- 
dings, suet puddings, are all, for a like reason, 
obnoxious to the stomach." 

There is but one condition that justifies the copi- 
ous use of oil in the daily diet, and that is, exposure 
to excessive cold. A pound of fat goes as far iu 
heating as 2.4 pounds of starch, or 7.7 pounds of 
muscular flesh. Hence, in polar regions, when the 
thermometer remains for Aveeks below zero, and 
often sinks to — 50*^, and sometimes to — 70^, the 
diet of the natives is olea2:inous to a dcOTee that 
sounds revolting and almost incredible to a person 
that rarely sees ice more than six inches thick. 

Dr. Kane, in reporting on the diet of polar voy- 



40 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

agers, says : " Our journeys have taught us the •wis- 
dom of the Esquimaux appetite ; and there are few 
among us who do not rehsh a slice of raw bhibber 
or a chunk of frozen walrus beef. In Smith's 
Sound, where the use of raw meats seemed almost 
inevitable, from the modes of living of the people, 
walrus holds the first rank. Certainly, its finely- 
condensed tissue and delicately permeating fat — 
oh, call it not blubber! — is the very best kind a 
man can swallow. It became our constant com- 
panion whenever we could get it. " 

When the cold is such that the water of the breath 
is converted to ice as soon as it leaves the lips, and* 
freezes in beads and pendants on the beard of a 
traveller or axe-man, the air, deprived of all watery 
vapor, is very pure. That is, it contains a large 
percentage of oxygen, and this should be met Ijy an 
abundance of carbon at the lungs. This demand is 
soonest satisfied by oil, as it is much cheaper and 
less bulky than its equivalent of carbon in the form 
of bread. But, as above stated, there is a great 
difference in the flour of difierent grains. Corn- 
bread, for instance, contains nine per cent, of oil, 
while common wheat-bread, from fine flour, has only 
one per cent. Hence, the Hudson's Bay traders 
have found, according to Sir John Richardson, that 
corn-bread is decidedly more supporting than wheat. 



THE CHEMISTRY OF FOOD. 41 

But in temperate climates and among people of 
civilized habits, the cold of winter is so far resisted 
by increase of clotliing and warmth of apartments, 
that practically the most of our time is spent in an 
atmosphere of from 60'' to 70"^. For brief expos- 
ures of a few hours or a single day, to a freezing 
temperature, there is fat enough in the blood to 
meet the demand for carbon. But where the suffer- 
ing from cold is lengthy and constant, as when sol- 
diers or sailors are exposed to long, cold storms, or 
in the case of pilots, helmsmen, drivers, and travel- 
lers, who cannot increase the bodily warmth by free 
motion of the limbs, the diet should be considerably 
modified by the free use of fat beef, the yolks of 
eggs, and a generous allowance of butter. 

There is, however, considerable difference in the 
digestibility of different oils in common use as food. 
Butter, containing, as it does, but sixty-five per 
cent, of carbon, — while lard contains eighty, — and 
grateful to the palate and stomach on account of 
delicate flavors which characterize good butter, is 
the least oljjectionable of all the fats. 

The fat of salt pork, and especially that of 
smoked bacon, is for some reason much less injuri- 
ous than fresh animal fats. The salt and the smoke 
produce some effect not well understood, but easily 
appreciated at the table, which deprives the suet of 

4.* 



42 THE ririLOSoniY of house-keeping. 

its most noxious qualities. In many cases of dys- 
pepsia, bacon fat is digested with perfect ease, 
when articles apparently much more appropriate 
oj)press the stomach. 

The manner in which they are combined with 
other alimentary principles also makes a great dif- 
ference in the ease w^ith which animal oils are man- 
aged in the stomach. They should be eaten in 
connection with substances Avhich contain a large 
share of starch, as, for instance, rice, "mealy" po- 
tatoes,, and bread made of fine wheat flour. The oil 
should, moreover, be thoroughly blended with the 
substances with which it is eaten. Thus, an ounce 
of lard added to a pound of flour, and well com- 
bined by stirring and kneading, makes a loaf of 
bread somewhat more palatable and hearty than the 
union of flour and Avater, and for most stomachs 
equally as digestible. The same amount of fat com- 
bined with a pound of Indian meal would make a 
compound fit only to be eaten by a wood-chopper 
when the thermometer is at zero ; for corn meal 
contains nine percent, of oil, which, being of vege- 
table origin and intimately blended with the starch 
and gluten, is easily digested in most healthy 
stomachs. 

While the free, or at least the excessive use of 
oil, and especially the fat of hogs, is opposed by all 



THE CHEMISTRY OF FOOD. 43 

the known principles of physiology, it must be 
remembered that the oils have a part of considera- 
ble importance to discharge in the animal economy. 
In cold weather, a fatty diet is required by those 
who are much exposed, and at all times the adipose 
and nervous tissues must derive their oily or fatty 
constituents from the blood, and the blood must 
find them in the food. 

The thing principally to be borne in mind by one 
who has charge of the diet of her family, is that 
oils are easily digested only when they are carefully 
and intimately blended with a large bulk of some 
other alimentary principle. Nature has given us a 
pattern here in the composition of milk. In a hun- 
dred drops of new milk there are but three and one- 
half drops of oil. Let the cook employ the same 
wise temperance, the same sagacious moderation in 
blending the constituents of her cakes, her pastries, 
and desserts. 

SuGAii is contained in greater or less quantities in 
most of the ves^etable substances used for food. 

The instinct of children, who show universally a 
fondness tor sugar, is not without a just foundation 
in nature, for it is ^contained in the mother's milk 
in a quantity nearly double that of butter. By the 
analysis of French chemists, the percentage of 



44 THE PHILOSOPIir OF IIOUSE-KEEPIXG. 

sii'^ar ill Avom.'ui's milk "Wiis found to be six iind 
one-half. 

Dr. Pcreira lias prcparctl a table, by comparing 
the analyses of various French and German chem- 
ists, in which he shows the proportion of sugar in 
various substances much used for food, as follows : — • 

Proportion of sugar iu barley meal 5.21 per ct. 

" " oatmeal, S.Cj " 

" " wheat tlour 4.2 to S.-13 " 

" " wheat bread, 3.0 " 

" " rye meal, 3.28 " 

" " ludhm meal, 1.45 " 

" " rice, .33j " 

«' " peas 2.00 " 

« " figs, • C2.00 " 

" " ripe green-gage plums, . . . .11.01 " 

" " pears, ripe and fresh, .... C.-J5 " 

" " " kept for some time, . . .11.52 " 

«« '' ripe cherries, IS.OO " 

" " ripe apricot, 11.01 " 

" " ripe peach, 13.43 " 

" " beet root, 5 to 9 " 

" " cow's milk, 4.77 " 

" " woman's milk, 0.50 " 

" " goat's milk, 5.28 " 

" " juice of sugar-cane, . . . 12 to 13 " 

It thus appears that our most delicious fruits, as 
the fig, pear, chcny, and peach, owe their attract- 
iveness to the sugar they contain, a ripe peach con- 
taining as much of it as an equal weight of cane- 
juice. More than half the substance of the fig 
appears to be sugar ; and the effect of keeping fruits 



THE CHEMISTllY OF FOOD. 45 

is seen in the case of the pear, where the difference 
between those fresh from the tree and those kept for 
some time was fomid to be an addition of live per 
cent, to the su2;ar. 

There is no evidence that sugar, when taken in 
moderate quantities, lias any injurious effects. Its 
composition is found to be very similar to that of 
starch, a hundred grains of sugar containing a little 
over forty grains of carbon, the balance being water. 

Accordins; to Liebio: and Dumas, susrar is an ele- 
ment of respiration ; but tliere is evidence that it is 
first converted into animal fat, for there is no trace 
of sugar in healthy blood. 

An English v/riter on the plants of Jamaica says 
that " during the sugar season in the West India 
Islands, everj^ negro on the plantations, and every 
animal, even the dogs, grow fat." That it is not to 
any great extent a heat-producing substance is shown 
b}' the fact that the Esquimaux do not care for 
it, their children sput|;ering it out Avhen put into 
their mouths as though it were so much sand, but 
devouring a candle with as much avidity as the 
children of warm and temperate climates eat candy. 
A part of the sugar ordinarily eaten passes into 
lactic acid in the stomach, and aids digestion. If 
too much of this acid is j)roduced, it is said to sour 
on the stomach, and the effect is to retard d^srestiou. 



46 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

There is no evidence that sugar goes to build up 
any of the important tissues of the body. Persons 
confined to sugar (as the crew of a vessel laden Avith 
sugar, that Avas shipwrecked) as their sole diet, 
perish from hunger almost as soon as those who eat 
nothing. 

In commerce, there arc a variety of sugars, 
known as "brown," "refined," "double refined," 
"crushed," etc., but, chemically speaking, there are 
but two varieties of sugar. Cane sugar, which 
comprises eleven-twelfths of all the sugar of com- 
merce, and includes that made of cane, maple-sap, 
juice of beets, corn-stalks, etc., is one kind, and 
grape sugar is the other. The chemical difference 
Jn these two sugars, and also their difference in solu- 
bility and sweetening power, is of importance to 
every house-keeper, and is well stated by Professor 
Youmans, as folloAvs : — 

"Those plants and fruits which possess sour or 
acid juices yield grape sugar, while those which 
contain little or no acid in their saps contain, gen- 
erally, cane sugar. Grape sugar may be produced 
by art, Avhile cane sugar cannot. 

" Sugar, like starch, consists only of carbon and 
water ; but these two sugars differ in the propor- 
tion of these elements. While cane suijar contains 
twelve atoms of carbon to eleven of water, grape 



THE CHEMISTKT OF FOOD. 47 

sugar contains twelve atoms of carbon to fourteen 
of water. Grape sugar is, therefore, less rich in 
carbon than cane sugar, and cane sugar may be 
transformed into grape sugar by the addition of 
chemically combined water. It is an essential })rop- 
erty of sugar, that under the action of ferments 
they are decomposed, converted into carbonic acid 
and alcohol. Grape sugar is most i^rone to this 
change ; and cane sugar, before it can undergo fer- 
mentation, must first be changed into grape sugar. 
Cane sugar passes into the solid state much more 
readily than grape sugar, taking on the form of 
clear, well-defined crystals of a constant figure ; 
gi'ape sugar, on the contrary, crj^stallizes reluctantly 
and imperfectly, without constancy or form. Crys- 
tals of cane sugar are regular, six-sided figures, 
while those of grape sugar are ill-defined, needle- 
shaped tufts. 

"Pure cane sugar remains perfectly dvy and un- 
changed in the air, while grape sugar attracts atmos- 
pheric moisture, becoming mealy and damp. Yet 
cane sugar dissolves in Avater much more readil}^ 
than grape sugar. While a pound of cold water 
will dissolve three pounds of the former, it will take 
up but two-thirds of a pound of the latter. Cane 
sugar will, therefore, make a much thicker and 
stronger syrup than grape sugar, dissolving, also, 



4Cf THE THILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

more freely in the juices of the mouth, — a property 
upon M'hich taste depends. 

" Cane sugar possesses a higher sweetening power 
than the other variety. Powdered grape sugar has 
a floury taste wlien placed on the tongue, and very 
gradually becomes sweet and gummy as it dissolves. 
Two pounds of cane sugar are considered to go as 
far in sweetening as, five of grape sugar. Therefore, 
five of grape should cost as much as two of cane 
sugar ; and the mingling of the two is a serious 
deterioration." 

Two practical conclusions may be drawn from this 
statement, of much value to the house-keeper. 1st. 
The fine, floury substance sold as "powdered sugar" 
by the grocers is to a great extent grape sugar, and 
even when pure it requires five pounds of it to be 
equal to two of pure cane sugar. 2d. When a quan- 
tity of broAvn sugar has stood for some months, a 
chemical change takes place throughout the mass, 
and it desrenerates into a substance of less than half 
the value of pure granulated sugar. Hence the 
experience of a great immber of purchasers may be 
summed up in the sentence, that "it is always cheap- 
est in the end to buy the best white sugar." 

Aside from these three leading alimentary princi- 
ples that do not contain nitrogen, there are three or 
four others which should be mentioned. Of these. 



THE CHEMISTRY OF FOOD. 49 

the most important is that described by Pereira 
under the name pectin aceous. By this terra, he 
and other chemists refer to vegetable jelly. 

Pectine and pectic acid are most extensively dis- 
tributed in the vegetable kingdom. Most pulpy 
fruits contain vegetable jelly ; as, currants, apples, 
pears, quinces, tomatoes, and various berries. 
"While unripe, these fruits contain but a very small 
portion of pectine, but in the process of ripening 
the vegetable acids, acting on the pulpy matter of 
the fruit, produce pectine. These acids, as the 
malic, citric, and tartaric, are enclosed in little cells, 
which, while the fruit is green, are imbroken ; but 
ripening is the process of bursting these cells, by 
which the acids become diflused through the mass 
of the fruit. By subjecting fruit to heat, these cells 
are burst, and the roasting or baking is, in fact, 
only a rapid artificial ripening. 

By the union of sugar with vegetable jelly, a va- 
riety of delicate articles of food is prepared ; such 
as currant jelly, apple, strawberry, and raspberry 
jellies, and apple and quince marmalade. These 
preparations derive the most of whatever nutritive 
qualities they possess from the sugar employed in 
their preparation ; but they are very easil}^ digested, 
and, Avhen properly made, are agreeable, cooling, 
and delicious articles for the table. In febrile and 



50 THE PHILOSOPHY OF nOUSE-KEEPING. 

inflammatoiy complaints they ure peculiarly grateful 
to a patient. In preparing jellies, it should be 
borne in mind that if the jnicc is boiled too long, 
the action of the heat takes away the power of 
gelatinizing; and the result is a Uiick paste, that 
lacks the flavor of well-made jelly. 

Aside from the substances abova described, which 
make up the chief part of humaw food, there are 
certain chemical or inorganic sal^s which are de- 
manded by the constitution of man, and which 
must exist, to a greater or less e/tent, in a perfect 
diet. 

The first of these is phosjyhorus,^ which occurs in 
the blood, and in various tissues <;f the body gen- 
erally, in the form of phosphate of L'me, or of phos- 
phoric acid. 

It is well knoM'U that phosphorus is an important 
element in the brain and nerves, and that high 
mental activity and nervous exci^'^ment produce 
a waste of phosphates in the system, and a demand 
in the diet for articles rich in phosphj.nis. 

About thirty years ago a French savan thought 
he had made a wonderful discovery witli. regard to 
the presence or a1)sence of this element in the tissue 
of the brain as a measure of mental soundness and 
power. He said he found twice as much phos- 
phorus in the brains of sensible people as in the 



THE CHEJnSTRY OF FOOD. 51 

brains of fools ; while the heads of insane persons had 
more than a proper share of this remarkable salt. 

More recent and accurate analyses have failed to 
corroborate these views of Couerbe ; but it is pretty 
well established that nervous and mental activity 
demands food that is rich in this salt, and that con- 
tains it in such a form as can i^adily be assimilated. 
This latter condition is of more importance than the 
mere presence of phosphorus in the stomach. This 
is the reason why such food as beans and peas, 
though well suited to supply muscular waste, is 
not adapted to the requirements of those who live 
by brain-toil. 

The food that a man craves, who leads an intense 
life amid the exhausting demands of a city, is not 
the same that will best sustain the quiet farm- 
labi^rer. Eggs abound in phosphorus, as also fish 
of most kinds, especially oysters, lobsters, and 
crabs. Game is richer in this salt than ordinary 
flesh, and cheese contains a great deal of it, — three 
times as much, according to Berzelius, as the whites 
of eggs. Among the culinary vegetables, the potato 
is found to be the best supplied with phosphorus. 
Now these are just the substances most esteemed 
for food by city people, Avho lead lives of excite- 
ment, and by the dissipated, whose waste of 
nervous energy is the most rapid and reckless. 



52 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

Another important mineral, which should be found 
in a healthy diet, is sulphur. The system requires 
it in the formation of bone and cartilage, in the 
growth of the hair and nails. There is a little 
suliDhur in the saliva also, and in other gastric 
juices. This salt is supplied by most articles of 
diet. There is so much of it in the yolk of eggs, 
when boiled, that a silver spoon is discolored by 
the formation of sulphuret of silver, if left in con- 
tact with the egg. The curd of milk is rich in 
sulphur, and it is this which gives the strong smell 
to old cheese. Sulphuretted hydrogen is the prin- 
cipal element of that disgusting odor that arises 
from animal substances Avhen decaying. 

Iron is another mineral always present in healthy 
blood. In fiict the chief difference in the blood of 
a vigorous, Avell-fed person, as contrasted with -the 
blood of one who is pallid and strengthless, consists 
in the quantity of iron which they respectively con- 
tain. For this reason, nothing is so good for many 
persons in low health as to drink water strongly 
impregnated with iron ; and hence chalj-^beate springs 
are often places of resort. 

Most articles of food contain some iron ; it is 
quite abundant in the juice of flesh, in eggs, and in 
milk ; hence these substances should be freely given 
to convalescents who have lost blood from wounds, 



THE CHEMISTRY Or FOOD. 53 

or whose blood has beeu greatly deranged by acute 
fever. 

Lime and salt are also constant ins^redieuts of 
our food, the former being demanded in the forma- 
tion of bones, and the latter being indispensable to 
the creation of the digestive juices. Lime is found 
in most of the substances largely consumed as food. 
The cereal grains, and especially wheat, contain it 
in the form of subphosphate. In the same form it 
is a considerable element in milk. On this account 
it can be seen why milk and wheaten bread is such 
a suitable dish for the nursery. Children need a 
large allowance of lime in their food for the produc- 
tion of their growing bones. Salt exists in small 
quantities in many articles of food, but not enough 
is thus taken into the system to supply its demands. 
The hydrochloric acid of the stomach, and the soda 
in the blood and in the bile, must both come from 
salt. 

Liebig has pointed out the remarkable coinci- 
dence that exists between the ash of the plants that 
compose man's food, and the ash of his blood. 
Many of the vegetables and meats consumed as food 
yield in their ash a little fluorine, and sometimes 
considerable amounts of potash and magnesia. 
These salts are all in demand for some part of the 
body. Fluorine is required for the teeth, and 



54 THE nilLOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEnXO. 

small quantities of magnesium and potassium are 
found in other parts of the system. 

When muscle is burned, some potash is found in 
the ash. Now, it makes no practical difference 
whether a muscle is brought to an ash in a crucible, 
or worn out in bodily activity. There is in each 
case a liberation of potash ; and when this con- 
sumption has taken place in the human system, it 
must be replaced by the ingredients of food. 

Among the vegetables, few contain more potash 
than the potato ; and this accounts for the well- 
known circumstance that heavy muscular labor, as 
the constant use of the shovel by Irishmen, is con- 
nected with a large consumption of potatoes. 

Thus chemistry has given us a good scientific 
reason for the choice we make of a great variety 
of articles of food. The blood and the whole 
economy are daily consuming a list of substances, 
some of which are by no means abundant in nature ; 
and a special appetite or fancy for this or that dish 
is often nothing less than the voice of nature assert- 
ing herself and calling for some subtle and hidden 
element which she demands, for perfect success in 
the rare and wonderful chemistry by which human 
life is sustained. 



THE NUTRITIVE POWER OF FOOD. 55 



CHAPTER III. 

THE NUTRITIVE POWER OF DIFFERENT KINDS 
OF FOOD. 

Whoever possesses the skill tlint comes of prac- 
tice and of proper instruction may become a good 
cook ; but the competent housewife should have a 
higher and more A^'lluable knowledirc than the sim- 
pie art of making a palatable dish. 

There is, in the diet of every nation at all remark- 
able for vigor and development, an habitual blend- 
ins: of the two o^reat classes of food described in the 
for going chapters, — a due and skilful mixing of 
the heat-making with the muscle-making elements. 
Thus, for instance, the Irish, as a nation, eat but 
very little meat ; yet Irishmen are larger, stronger, 
and more capable of muscular toil, than any other 
people on the face of the earth. In bodily develop- 
ment, the average of the size, M'eight, and height 
of a hundred Irishmen will be found very near that 
standard which physiologists have determined upon 
as the nearest approach to perfection. Professor 
Quitelet came to the conclusion, that the model man 
should weigh a hundred and fifty-four pounds. 
This is found to be the averasre weisfht of Irishmen. 



5G THE PHILOSOPIir OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

Now, how docs it happen that a nation so remark- 
ably vigorous are yet almost exclusively vegeta- 
rians in their diet? Because their national diet is 
so largely nitrogenous. They consume, in great 
amounts, those vegetables which are richest in 
muscle-making power. Potatoes, oatmeal, cabbage, 
and milk are the grand staples of their food. The 
cabbage excels all the plants of its class in the 
amount of nitrogen which it contains. The potato 
is abundantly supplied with potash ; and as this 
mineral is found in the ash of muscle, it follows 
that it is particularly adapted to the production of 
muscular strength. The oat is richer than wheat, 
or any other grain, in nitrogen ; and this is also 
largely found in the curd of milk. 

Another circumstance, more remarkable still, 
must be considered, in explanation of the fact of 
the large osseous development of the Irish race. 
None of the kinds of food above mentioned are par- 
ticularly rich in the phosphates which are required 
for bone growth. The question, where the Irishman 
gets the lime necessary for perfect development, is 
thus answered by Professor Johnston: "The hu- 
man body requires a certain proportion of lime to 
be contained in, or mixed Avith, its food. If the 
common diet do not contain a sufficient proportion 
of this mineral ingredient, the common water of the 



THE NUTRITIVE POWER OF FOOD. 57 

country may supply the deficiency ; and tlius a 
national mode of living may spring up, the salutary 
properties of which depend partly upon the food, 
and partly upon the water. In another district or 
country, where the drinking water is different, the 
same solid food, eaten alone, may be unsuited for 
the maintenance of health. Ireland presents us 
with a case in which this state of things appears to 
exist. Potato has become, in a sense, the national 
food of Ireland. In 1854, one million acres on that 
island produced potatoes. This root contains lai-ger 
proportions of potash and soda, but much less of 
lime and other necessary ingredients, than either 
wheat or oats, which are the staples of English and 
Scottish life. But the greater part of Ireland is 
covered with a broad limestone formation, which 
impregnates with lime the springs and other waters 
employed for domestic purposes ; so that the min- 
eral contents of Avhat they drink supply the natural 
deficiency in what they eat. In this wa}^ it will 
appear that the reasons for the adoption of a peculiar 
national diet may lie much deeper than political 
economy can generally go." 

In the same wa}^ and for a similar reason, the 
Englishman eats bacon, which is heat-producing, 
with beans, which are highly nitrogenous ; and to 



58 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

rice, which is rich only in starch, adds milk, eggs, 
and butter. 

The macaroni of the Italian, which is very sim- 
ilar to rice in its properties, is eaten with rich 
cheese, to obtain the benefit of the oil and curd, 
both abounding in substances demanded by the 
body. 

Dry wheat bread is everywhere eaten with some 
kind of oil. Now, it is precisely this skill in blend- 
ing of foods — this art of balancing the defects of one 
article by the abundance of the lacking elements in 
another article of food — this knowledsre of the 
complementary ya\\iq of different substances eaten — 
that is most required. The voice of nature is al- 
ways strong, and, if she has an abundant supply 
from which to choose her election, except in the 
case of morbid appetite, is always just and wise. 
In the rudest diet, as well as in the luxuries of 
refined gastronomy, the main cravings of animal 
nature are never lost sight of. " Aside from the first 
taste in the mouth," says the chemist whose words 
we have just quoted, "there is an after-taste of the 
digestive organs which requires to be satisfied. An 
indifferent cook may gratify the first ; he is no 
mean physiological chemist who can at the same 
time fully satisfy the second." 

In order to know how to blend alimentary prin- 



THE NUTRITIVT: rOAVER or FOOD. 59 

ciples, the house-keeper should be familiar with the 
nutritive powers of the different articles which are 
brought most frequently upon tables. 

"When a substance is brought before the physio- 
logical chemist, and his opiuion asked as to its value 
as an article of food, his inquiries will be directed 
to three main points : — 

1st. What is its value as a plastic or strength- 
giving substance ? 

2d. What are its heat-giving or respiratory qual- 
ities ? 

3d. With what facility is it digested in a healthy 
stomach ? 

As an answer to these main lines of inquiry, four 
tables have been prepared, — the first two arranged 
so as to give the highest position to those substances 
which are most abundant in strength-giving quali- 
ties and in heating power ; the third presenting the 
most digestible substances ; and the fourth giving 
the most convplementary food, by which is meant 
those which by themselves contain the greatest 
variety and the best proportion of alimentary elc/- 
ments. 



GO 



THE THILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 



TABLE I. 

Giving the quantity of Nitrogen, or tissue-making Ele- 
ment, in certain Foods, mostly on the authority of Bous- 
singault. 



Various Kinds of Food. 


Quantity of 


Nitrogen. 


Animal albumen, or white of eggs, . 


15.9 part 


5 in lyO. 


Vegetable albumen, from wheat, . 


. 15.9 


(1 


Animal fibrine, 


15.8 


(1 


Vegetable fibrine, 


. 15.8 


" 


Animal caseine (prepared from beans), . 


15.7 


" 


Vegetable caseine (from milk), 


. 15.6 


<( 


Gluten (separated from wheat), 


15.9 


(( 


Roasted flesh of roe deer, 


. 15.2 


(C 


" " ofbeef, . . . . 


15.2 


<( 


Dried ox blood, 


. 15.0 


(( 


Dried beef, 


15.0 


(( 


Roast veal, 


. 14.7 


l< 


Horse beans, dried at 212°, 


5.5 


" 


Lentils, dried at 212°, .... 


. 4.4 


(( 


"White kidney beans, 


4.3 


<( 


Peas, dried in vacuo at 230°, 


. 4.2 


(( 


Cabbage, white, dried at 212", . 


3.7 


(( 


Wheat, dried at 230°, .... 


. 2.3 


(( 


Oats, dried at 230°, 


2.2 


(C 


Barley, dried at 230°, .... 


. 2.0 


(f 


Carrot, dried at 212°, . . . . 


2.4 


(( 


Turnips, dried at 212°, .... 


. 2.2 


<< 


Indian corn, dried at 212°, 


2.0 


«( 


Potatoes (fresh), dried at 212°, . 


. 1.8 


(( 


Rye, dried at 212° 


1.7 


i( 


Jerusalem artichoke, dried at 230'', 


. 1.6 


<( 


Rice, dried at 230°, 


1.3 


(( 


Potatoes, kept ten months, and dried, 


. 1.1 


t( 



THE NUTRITIVE POWER OF FOOD. 



61 



TABLE II. 

Giving the quantity of Carbon, or respiratory and heat- 
producing Element, in certain ividely used Articles of 
Food. 



Various Kinds of Food. 


Quantity of Carbon. 


Authoritjr. 


Hog's lard 


79.0 part 


s in 100. 


Chevreul. 


Mutton fat, .... 


. 78.9 




do. 


Olive oil, 


77.7 




Saussure. 


Butter, 


. 65.6 




Berard. 


Animal albumen (white of eggs). 


55.0 




Scherer. 


Animal fibrine, .... 


. 55.0 




do. 


Animal caseine (from fresh milk). 


54.8 




do. 


Vegetable albumen (from wheat). 


. 55.0 




Jones. 


Vegetable fibrine, .... 


54.6 




Scherer. 


Vegetable caseine, . 


. 54.0 




do. 


Gluten, from wheat. 


55.2 




Jones. 


Venison, roasted, . , 


. 52.6 




Boeckmann. 


Beef, roasted, .... 


52.5 




Plaj-fair. 


Veal, roasted, .... 


. 52.5 




do. 


Ox-blood, fresh, .... 


10.3 




do. 


" dried. 


. 51.9 




do. 


Alcohol, 


52.0 




Fremy. 


Oats, dried at 230°, . 


. 50 7 




Boussingault. 


Acetic acid, 


47.0 




Peligot. 


Cane sugar (anhydrous), . 


. 47.0 






Peas, dried at 230°, 


46.5 




Boussingault. 


Pectine, or jelly from sour apples. 


. 45.8 




Fremy. 


"Wheat and rye, each dried at 230°, 


46.0 




Boussingault. 


Pectine, or jelly from sweet apples 


, 45.1 




Prout. 


Black bread, dried at 210°, . 


45.4 




Boeckmann. 


"VYheat starch, dried at 350°, . 


. 44.0 


« . 


do. 


Arrow-root starch, dried at 212°, 


44.4 




do. 


Gum arable, dried at 240°, 


. 45.0 




Mulder. 


" dried at 212°, . 


41.0 




Prout. 


Sugar candy, .... 


. 42.0 






Sugar of milk, . . , . 


40.0 




Prout and Liebig, 


Potatoes, fresh 


. 12.2 




Boussingault. 



62 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

Various Kinds of Food. Quantity of Carbon. Authority. 

Potatoes, dried at 230°, . , 41.0 parts in 100. Boussingault. 

Turnips, fresh, .... 3.0 " do. 

Turnips, dried at 230°, . . . 42.0 " do. 

Jerusalem articholie, dried at 230°, 43.0 " do. 

Beans, 38.2 " I'layfair. 

Lentils 37.5 " do. 

Peas, 35.7 " do. 

Wheat bread, fresh 30.0 " Liebig. 



TABLE III. 

Showing the time in which various Articles of Food are 
digested. Prepared by Dr. Beaumont. 

How Time of 

Article of Food. Prepared. Digestion. 

U. M. 

Kice, Boiled, 1 00 

Pig's feet (soused), Boiled, 1 00 

Tripe (soused), Boiled, 1 00 

Eggs, whipped Eaw, 1 30 

Salmon trout, Boiled, 1 30 

Salmon trout, Fried, 1 30 

Barley soup, 1 30 

Apples, sweet and mellow, . . . Raw, _ 1 30 

Venison-steak, Broiled, 1 35 

Brains of animals, Boiled, 1 45 

Sago, Boiled, 1 45 

Tapioca, Boiled, 2 00 

Barley, Boiled, 2 00 

Milk, Boiled, 2 00 

Liver of beef, fresh, .... Broiled, 2 00 

Eggs, Raw, 2 00 

Codfish, cured, Boiled, 2 00 

Apples, sour, mellow, .... Raw. 2 00 



THE NUTRITIVE POWER OF TOOD. 



Article of Food. 

Cabbage, with vinegar, 
Milk, .... 

Eggs, 

Wildturkej', . 

Turkey, domestic, 

Gelatine, .... 

Turkey, domestic. 

Goose, wild. 

Pig, sucking. 

Lamb, fresli, . 

Hash, meat and vegetables. 

Beans, from pod. 

Cake, sponge, 

Parsnips, . 

Potatoes, Irish, . 



Cabbage-head, 

Spinal marrow of animal, 

Chicken, full-grown, . 

Custard, .... 

Beef, with salt only, . 

Apples, sour and hard, . 

Oysters, fresh. 

Eggs, fresh, . 

Bass (striped), 

Beof, fresh, lean and rare. 

Beef-steak, . 

Pork, recently salted, 

Mutton, fresh. 

Bean soup, 



How 

Prepared. 


Time of 
Digestion. 




11. 


M. 


Raw, 


2 


00 


Raw, 


2 


15 


Roasted, 


2 


15 


Roasted, 


o 


18 


Boiled, 


2 


25 


Boiled, 


2 


30 


Roasted, 


2 


30 


Roasted, 


2 


30 


Roasted, 


2 


30 


Broiled, 


2 


30 


"Wanned, 


2 


30 


Boiled, 


2 


30 


Baked, 


2 


30 


Boiled, 


2 


30 


Roasted, 


2 


30 


Baked, 


2 


30 


Raw, 


2 


30 


Boiled, 


2 


40 


Fricaseed, 


2 


i5 


Balvcd, 


2 


45 


Boiled, 


2 


45 


Raw, 


2 


50 


Raw, 


2 


55 


Soft boiled. 


S 


00 


Broiled, 


3 


00 


Broiled, 


3 


00 


Broiled, 


3 


00 


Raw, 


3 


00 


Stewed, 


3 


00 


Broiled, 


3 


00 


Boiled, 


3 


00 


, , 


. 3 


00 



64 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPIXn. 



Article of Food. 

Chicken soup, 

Apple-dumpling, 

Corn-cake, . 

Oysters, fresh. 

Pork, recently salted 

Mutton, fresh. 

Corn-bread, 

Carrot (orange), 

Sausage, 

Flounder, fresh. 

Catfish, fresh, 

Oysters, fresh, 

Beef, fresh, lean, and drj' 

Beef, with mustard, 

Butter, melted, . 

Cheese, old, and stron; 

Mutton soup. 

Oyster soup, . 

Wheat-bread, 

Turnips, 

Irish potatoes. 

Eggs, 

Eggs, . 

Green corn and beans, 

Beets, . 

Salmon, salted. 

Beef, fresh, . 

Veal, fresh, 

Fowls, domestic. 



Ducks, *' 

Beef soup, with vegetables, 



How 
Prepared. 


Time of 
Digestion. 

H. M. 

3 00 


Boiled, 


3 


00 


Baked, 


3 


00 


Roasted, 


3 


15 


Broiled, 


3 


15 


Roasted, 


3 


15 


Baked, 


3 


15 


Boiled, 


3 


15 


Broiled, 


3 


20 


Fried, 


3 


30 


Fried, 


3 


30 


Stewed, 


3 


30 


Roasted, 


3 


30 


Boiled, 


3 


30 


. 


2 


30 


. 


. 3 


30 


. 


3 


30 


. ■ 


. 3 


30 


Fresh baked 


3 


30 


Boiled, 


3 


30 


Boiled, 


3 


30 


Hard boiled. 


3 


30 


Fried, 


3 


30 


Boiled, 


3 


45 


Boiled, 


3 


45 


Boiled, 


4 


00 


Fried, 


4 


00 


Broiled, 


4 


00 


Boiled, 


4 


00 


Roasted, 


4 


00 


Roasted, 


4 


00 


, 


. 4 


00 



THE NUTRITIVE POWER OF FOOD. 65 

. ^. , ^„ . How Time of 

Article of Food. Prepared. Digestion. 

II. I\r. 

Heart of animal, .... Tried, 4 00 

Beef, salted, old and hard, . . . Boiled, 4 15 

Pork, recently salted, . . . . Fried, 4 15 

Soup of marrow-bones, 4 15 

Cartilage, Boiled, 4 15 

Cabbage, Boiled, 4 30 

Pork, recently salted, .... Boiled, 4 30 

Veal, fresh, Fried, 4 30 

Ducks, wild, Boasted, 4 30 

Suet, mutton, Boiled, 4 30 

Pork, fat and lean, .... Roasted, 5 15 

Tendon, Boiled, 5 30 

Suet, beef, fresh, .... Boiled, 5 30 



TABLE IV. 

Comjylementary Articles of Food, such as in themselves 
supply the loants of the body. 

Articles of Food. Their Composition. 

' Contains water, 87 per cent. ; butter, 3 per 
cent; caseine and insoluble salts, 5 per 
cent. ; milk-sugar, 4 per cent. 

In final analysis, albumen, caseine rich iu 
nitrogen, oil and sugar rich in carbon, chlo- 
ride of potassium and sodium, and the phos 
I phate? of soda, lime, magnesia, and iron. 



Milk, < 



6* 



6G 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 



Article ol Food. 



Eggs, 



Wheat, 
Kye, 
Corn, 
Oats, 



When m^le 
into bread, 
or otherwise -^ 
prepared for 
. food, 



Their Composition. 

The vhite consists of water, SO per cent. ; 
albumen, 15.5 per cent. ; mucus, 4 per cent. 

The yolk, — Avater, 53.7; albumen, 17.4; 
yellow oil. 28. 7 per cent. 

In final analysis, the egg contains albu- 
men rich in nitrogen, yellow oil rich in car- 
bon ; while the ash is found to contain 
sulphur, phosphoric acid, chlorine, potash, 
soda, lime, magnesia, aud their carbonates. 

The composition of the yolk and white 
together is as follows : — 

Water 74.0 parts in 100. 

Albumen, .... 14.0 " 

Fat, . ■ . , . . 10.5 " 

Mineral salts, . . .1.5 " 

'' Contain of starch about GO per cent. ; 
of gluten about 12 per cent. ; with 
sugar, gum, oil, and a mineral ash, 
which consists of phosphoric acid, 
potash, soda, magnesia, oxide of iron, 
and common salt. 

In final analysis, the substances of 
which bread is usually made yield 
nitrogenous matter in proportion to 
carbonaceous nearl)' as one to five, 
and the}^ contain the most of the salts 
required bj' the body. 



J 



Consists of water, about 74 per cent. ; of al- 

Muscular flesh I bumen, or fibrine, about 20 per cent. ; of 

of the ox, deer, ^ gelatine, G per cent., — giving nearly 27 per 

sheep, and hog, I cent, of nutritive matter, of which more 

i. than one-half, or 15 per cent., is nitrogen. 



With these tables before us, it is easy to select 
those articles of food which are, on the whole, the 
most perfect ; and any dish which combines the 



I 



THE NUTRITIVE POWER OF FOOD. 67 

merits of each of these tables, must possess high 
vaUie as an article of food. For instance, from 
the first table, suppose we take venison, or the 
roasted flesh of roe-deer. It is found to contain 
more than fifteen per cent, of nitrogen, the element 
which is needed to give strength. It also contains, 
according to the second table, fifty -two per cent, 
of carbon, or heat-producing element. That is, 
the strength-producing power of venison is to its 
heat-produciug power, as fifteen to fifty-two, or as 
one to three and a half. But in perfect food this 
ratio ought to be as one to four, or one to five ; 
hence, there should be eaten with venison some 
article rich in carbon, as, for instance, Avheat bread, 
which contains thirty per cent, of carbon ; or oat- 
cake, which contains fifty per cent, of carbon ; or 
potatoes, the dry part of which contains forty-four 
per cent, of carbon ; or rice, which is known to be 
very rich in starch. Suppose the latter farinaceous 
dish is selected, and a person dines on broiled 
venison and boiled rice. Let iis now turn to the 
third table, and see in what time these articles will 
be digested. The rice will l)e converted into chyme 
in an hour, the venison in thirty minutes longer. 
If, in connection with this dish, a mellow apple 
should be eaten, it would digest at the same time 
with the venison. Thus, it appears, that no articles 



68 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

can be selected from the above tables, on which so 
perfect a meal could be made, as broiled venison and 
boiled rice, followed by an apple. This is an ex- 
planation of the well-known fact, that no people arc 
equal in hardihood, vigor, and strength to the 
Rocky Mountain hunters, who subsist almost en- 
tirely on fresh venison. For a man who takes a 
great amount of exercise, venison alone would for a 
long time satisfy all the demands of his system, 
l)articularly if the w«ter he drank contained, in 
solution, phosphate of lime, and some other mineral 
elements, in small quantities. 

Let us take, now, the old standard farmer's din- 
ner of salt pork and boiled cabbage. 

The cabbage contain?, nearly four per cent, of 
nitrogen, standing next t^ beans and peas as strength- 
supporting vegetables. The pork is richer than 
any other meat in carbon, or heat-producing power, 
and the oil from the fat meat penetrating the cab- 
bao;e renders it easier of digestion, unless too much 
pork is used. Thus the dish seems to be very 
proper for a laboring man, particularly in cold 
weather. Now, if we look in Table III. for its 
digestibility, we find it near the bottom of the list. 
It remains four and a half hours in the stomach 
before it is reduced to chyme. Hence its propriety 
as a dinner dish. It should be eaten many hours 



t 



THE NUTRITIVE POWER OF FOOD. 69 

before sleep ; whereas the hunter may sink to the 
most perfect repose in a little more than an hour 
after eating his venison supper. 

Beef is jDrecisely like venison in composition ; 
that is, it has fifteen per cent, of nitrogen, and over 
fifty-two per cent, of carbon ; but it remains un- 
changed in the stomach two full hours after veuisou 
is wholly digested. 

Wheat bread contains, according to Boussingault, 
thirty-nine per cent, of carbon, and a little less 
than two per cent, of nitrogen. The butter which 
is commonly eaten with it contains sixty-four per 
cent, of carbon, but no nitrogen. Hence large 
quantities of this food are necessary, in order to 
give the muscular strength for hard labor. Some 
kind of meat, having fifteen per cent, of nitrogen, 
should be eaten with bread by persons in active 
life. 

An examination of these tables will show why 
certain vegetables are so extensively used for food 
among vigorous and industrious populations. The 
bean, on account of its capability of being thoroughly 
dried, is the standard vegetable for soldiers, sailors, 
and remote laborers, as lumbermen and miners. In 
Table No. I., it is found standing immediately after 
the meats as plastic food, containing, according to 
the variety, about four and a half per cent, of 



70 THE PHILOSOrHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

nitrogen. Next stands the cabbage, and close upon 
it oats, Avheat, and barley. By another analysis, 
the oat is fonnd considerably snperior to ^vheat in 
jDlastic power. 

Now, these vegetables are precisely those most 
consumed in Northern Europe and the United States, 
where there is greatest amount of activit}^ of both 
mind and body, and where the labors of progressive 
civilization afford the highest displays of both men- 
tal and muscular force. 

So, also, the potato, which probably stands next 
to wheat among civilized nations as an article of 
food, contains, when fresh and mealj', nearly as 
much nitrogen as barley and Indian corn ; that is, 
about two per cent., the balance being starch}^ or 
heat-producing. Horsford, by analysis of the dry 
matter, which is one-fourth of the weight of the 
potato, found the amount of nitrogenous element to 
be one-tenth, or two and a half per cent, of the 
whole potato. This would make its nutritive pow- 
ers nearly equal to wheat. The analysis of Pro- 
fessor Johnston, of England, makes the result as 
follows : Of starch, sixty-four per cent. ; of sugar 
and gum, fifteen per cent. ; of nitrogenous matter, 
nine per cent. ; of fat, one per cent. ; of fibre, eleven 
per cent. "The dry potato, therefore, is about 
equal in nutritive value to rice, and not far behind 



THE NUTRITIVE POAVEK OF FOOD. 71 

the average of our liner varieties of wheat aud 
flour." When it is remembered, that in cookins: 
rice and wheat, we add a largo amount of Avater, 
whereas in cooking potatoes a portion of the water 
is expelled, it will be seen that a dozen large-sized 
potatoes are about equal to a pound of wheat flour, 
made into bread. According to the experiments of 
Boussingault, a field that yields three thousand four 
hundred pounds in wheat, will produce thirty-eight 
thousand pounds of potatoes. If these products 
should be reduced to ashes, the wheat would aflbrd 
ninety pounds, and the potatoes three hundred and 
twenty-three pounds. These figures arc a sufficient 
explanation of the value of the potato as an article 
of diet, as it is doubtful whether, by the cultivation 
of any other crop, so large an amount per acre of 
wholesome and nutritious food can be produced. 

The onion is also a very valuable vegetable, and 
contains a high j)ercentage of nitrogen ; one analysis 
showed that the dry parts of the onion }'ield nearly 
thirty per cent, of plastic material. If this be so, 
one onion is equal to three potatoes of the same 
size. A very obvious lesson to be derived from 
these and similar tables is a knoAvledge of the 
plants which are the most economical for the gar- 
dens of the poor. If a family have, for instance, a 
fourth of an acre of fertile soil, how can they plant 



72 THE PIIILOSOPIIY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

it in such a way us to }ield them the largest aiiiouut 
of nutrition ? 

Those wlio are poor, but industrious, eat not for 
enjoyment, but to repair the strength which is 
Avasted by daily toils. Yet, as exercise is the best 
condiment, "the bread of the laboring man is sweet." 
It will be seen that the plastic or nitrogenized 
foods are, in general, the most ditficult to be ob- 
tained. For instance, the most perfect nitrogenous 
food, venison, is, in the nature of things, a luxury 
difficult to be obtained, except l)y hunters, or by 
those whose means enable them to command every 
delicacy. In Europe, this is true, to a great extent, 
of beef. It must be, therefore, from the vegetable 
kingdom that the great bulk or major part of the 
nitrogen consumed by the activity of the race must 
be derived. And, Avhere land is expensive, the 
question is one of immense importance, — What 
vegetables will furnish, from a given surface, the 
largest amount of nitroijen? AVitli this in view, 
science informs the owner of a few square rods of 
ground, that he had better plant it in onions, j^ra^, 
beans, cabbage, turmj)s, jwiatoes. If his breadth 
of land admits of a cereal crop, let it be oatSy 
barley, or ivheat. 

It is remarkable to observe how closely long ex- 
l)crience has arrived at results justified by the most 



THE NUTRITIVE POWER OF FOOD. 73 

refined analysis of chemistry ; for the garden of a 
thrifty and hard-working man will be almost sure 
to have all these vegetables growing in it. 

Let us turn, now, to the fourth table, and discuss 
some of those articles of food Avhich in themselves 
supply the bodily wants, and which are, for that 
reason, adapted to be, for considerable periods, a 
sole diet. At the head of the list we find milk, 
which is, on some accounts, the most perfect of all 
substances for food. There is not a single element 
demanded by the body (unless it be very small 
quantities of sulphur and fluorine) , that is not con- 
tained in this primal, and well-nigh universal, ar- 
ticle of food. AYe need water in large quantities. 
Eighty-seven per cent, of milk is water. We need 
a small amount of oil. In the form of butter, milk 
yields this oil at the rate of three parts in a hun- 
dred. Sugar is always found grateful and whole- 
some as a part of our food, and of it milk contains 
four parts in a hundred. The curd of milk is 
caseine, identical in composition with vegetable 
albumen, and the albumen of eggs, blood, and mus- 
cular flesh ; while, in final analysis, there are found 
in milk the phosphates of soda, lime, magnesia, and 
iron, all of Avhich are necessary to the growth of 
bone, and other tissues. Wh}^ then, is not milk 
as suitable and perfect an aliment for the adult, as 
7 



74 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

it is for the child? First, because nature, by giv- 
ing us teeth, has designed that a large part of 
human food should be solid, not liquid ; and, second, 
because the stomach, and other parts of the alimen- 
tary canal, are prepared to receive and digest food 
which contains a large amount of starch, albumen, 
and some woody fibre. 

Hence, though milk in sufficient quantities would 
nourish the body so as to preserve its health, its 
use as the sole food would be followed by a de- 
rangement of the stomach and bowels, more or less 
acute. Dyspepsia and constipation would be the 
first mischief. Milk would be an insufficient diet, 
also, from its lack of both nitrogenous and carbona- 
ceous elements, as it contains but three per cent, 
of oil, and four per cent, of caseine. But some im- 
portant hints as to the mixture of the alimentary 
substances may be derived, by observing its com- 
position. 

For instance, the moderate amount of oil which 
milk contains is thoroughl}^ interfused and blended 
with the mass. Thus should it be Avith all dishes 
which contain oil. It should enter the stomach as 
butter does, when we drink milk ; there is no evi- 
dence that oils and fats begin to yield any aliment 
until the digestive juices have wrought them into a 
fluid resembling milk, which is called an emulsion. 



THE NUTRITIVE POWER OF FOOD. 75 

By blending ^Y^th milk other substances which 
contain the elements which are lacking, very per- 
fect articles of food can be formed, — dishes which 
can alike delight the palate and satisfy the inner 
man. Thus, by adding eggs, rich in albumen, and 
rice, which consists mostly of starch, and some 
sugar, rice pudding is the result ; a dish Avhich, 
for its nutritive power, and the ease with which it 
is digested, is surpassed by few others in the whole 
range of culinary art. 

By noticing the mineral ingredients of each, it 
will be seen why wheaten bread and milk is a dish 
so universally grateful and wholesome for children. 
The milk and the wheat are both quite rich in phos- 
phate of lime, which is precisely what a child wants 
ibr bone growth ; while the curd of the milk, and 
the gluten of the wheat, go to make up muscular 
M'aste, which, on account of the perpetual activities 
of childhood, is always great. 

The nutritive power of milk is but little dimin- 
ished by the separation of the three per cent, of 
butter which it contains. The whole of the curd 
remains in both skimmed milk and buttermilk, 
and their sourness is due to the formation of lactic 
acid, which, like the acid of fruits, though less 
agreeable, is entirely wholesome. There is no 
drink, in summer time, more suitable for laboring 



76 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

men than buttermilk. It directly reinforces the 
wastins: muscular tissue with its curd, Avhich is rich 
in nitrogen ; and the sugar and salts which it con- 
tains are also nutritions. It is extensively used as 
an article of food in Ireland and in Germany, and 
forms an agreeable, cooling beverage in febrile and 
inflammatory cases. 

Milk and eggs may be regarded as in their 
nature fruits which the animals yield us ; and eggs, 
in particular, are among the most perfect articles 
of food which Ave have. They contain fourteen 
parts in a hundred of albumen ; and hence, weight 
for weight, are almost as valuable for tissue and 
•strength-makiug, as muscular flesh. They contain 
ten and a half -pev cent, of fat, and one and a 
half of mineral salts, such as sulphur, potash, chlo- 
rine, lime, magnesia, and i^hosphorus. 

By reference to Dr. Beaumont's table of the time 
of digestion of various articles, it will be found that 
the mode of cooking has much to do with the diges- 
tibility of eggs. When prepared by beating alone, 
an egg is equalled by very few articles in the 
promptness wath which it is reduced to chyme. An 
hour and a half suffices. But when fried, it remains 
three hours and a half before the work of diofestion 
is complete. When soft-boiled, the Avhite only 
being coagulated, three hours are required. By 



THE NUTltlTlVE POWER OF FOOD. 77 

comparing the percentage of oil with that of albu- 
men, it will be seen that the proportion of carbon 
is much higher than it should be in perfect food. 
This indicates that eggs are a proper diet in cold 
weather, and that they should be eaten, as they 
generally are, in connection with dishes in which 
starch abounds. Though health could be enjoyed, 
for a great length of time, on a diet of eggs only, 
there would be danirer of the same derani^cmcnt of 
the diixestive orofans that is likely to occur where 
milk only is eaten. The mass of food taken into 
the stomach would be so small that the organs 
would become feeble and languid from inaction, 
and severe constipation ensue. 

On this account, eggs should be eaten with food 
that is coarse and bulk}^ or with such as contains 
much starch. 

The large amount of oil in the yolk of eggs ren- 
ders the blending of animal fats, such as lard or 
butter, with eggs, as in rich pound and fruit cake, 
and most other compounds of similar description, 
altogether unwholesome. The kind known as sponge 
cake contains little or no butter, and is, on that 
account, much less objectionable than the other 
varieties. 

The breads made of the cereal grains, and par- 
ticularly from wheat, rye, corn, and oats, differ but 



/8 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

slightly ill ultimate analysis. Corn -meal is a little 
richer in oil, and correspondingly poorer in nitro- 
gen ; oatmeal is richer than any of the others in 
nitrogen. The blending of the elements in wheat, 
"where it is coarsely ground, and the peculiarly 
tough and gummy nature of its gluten, render it 
better adapted for bread than any other grain. 
Wheat bread, alone, has supported life longer, 
probably, than any other single article of food, ex- 
cept animal flesh. The ratio of the nitrogenous to 
the starchy element is about in the ratio of one to 
five. For a sedentary 23erson this is, perhaps, the 
best proportion. Hence the bread and Avater of 
the prisoner, though cheerless diet, is yet quite Avell 
suited to the main demands of the system. 

The last-mentioned substance in our list of com- 
l^lementary foods is the muscular flesh of the ox, 
deer, sheep, and hog. To this may be added the 
flesh of foAvls and of some Avild animals. The 
nutritive power of the flesh of these difierent ani- 
mals is almost the same : fifteen parts in a hun- 
dred, of muscular flesh, as a rule, are nitrogenous ; 
but the difierence in the facility with which various 
meats are digested is very great. By reference to 
Table III., we find roasted venison as easy of diges- 
tion as almost anything that can be taken into the 
stomach, being reduced in an hour and a half; while 



THE NUTRITIVE POWER OF FOOD. 79 

roaslfed pork, fat and lean, requires more than five 
hours for its reduction. The digestibility varies, 
also, with the age of the animal, the circumstances 
under which it was slaughtered, and the manner in 
which it was cooked. But, when man lives on flesh 
alone, he takes into his stomach a much larger 
amount of muscle-making and force-producing 
power than the ordinary demands of civilized life 
require. 

Hence, a diet of meat only, implies two conditions 
of barbarism or semi-barbarism : first, sparse ness 
of population; for "a nation of hunters on a limited 
space," says Liebig, "is utterly incapable of in- 
creasing its immbers be^'^ond a certain point, which 
is soon attained;" and, second, a great amount of 
useless or unnecessary movement ; for, says the 
same eminent authority, "man, Avhcn confined to 
animal food, respires, like the carnivora, at the ex- 
pense of the matters produced by the metamor- 
phosis of organized tissues, and just as the lion, 
tiger, hyena, in the cages of a menagerie, are com- 
pelled to accelerate that waste of the organized 
tissues by incessant motion, in order to furnish the 
matter necessary for respiration, so the savage, for 
the very same object, is forced to make the most 
laborious exertions, and go through a vast amount 
of muscular exercise. He is compelled to consume 



80 THE PlIILOSOPJIY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

force, merely in order to supply the matter for res- 
piration." Since, in the nature of things, the Cre- 
ator has made a carnivorous diet incompatible -with 
the highest civilization, it is but a natural conclu- 
sion, that, as man ascends from savage to cultivated 
life, he will eat less flesh and more bread, imtil his 
diet is regulated by strictly scientific principles. 
Many writers, noticing this tendency, have argued 
from it the arrival of a time when man will cease to 
consume flesh. But this is not a just inference ; for 
man is made throughout, in his teeth, and in the 
whole alimentary canal, for a diet partly of flesh. 
The true tendency is to a condition of things where 
man will draw his plastic or muscle-making food 
from the best sources of such food, and his heat- 
producing food from the best materials of that 
character. 

Flesh diet is often called stimulating. This is a 
proper term, when employed to indicate the fact 
that animal food imparts a force which is not fell 
from even the best selected vegetable aliments. 
This force-giving or stimulating power of flesli 
arises from two sources, which should be distinctly 
understood. First. Flesh diet is stimulating, be- 
cause it contains a mixture of peculiar and complex 
products ; and as the chief object of nitrogenous 
food, at least, is to produce flesh, it is quite natural 



THE XUTltlTIVE POWEll OF FOOD. 81 

that no other preparation shonlcl do this with such 
promptness, and such perfection, as flesh itself. 
Suppose, for instance, a Kocky Mountain hunter 
passes through a region nearly destitute of game, 
and walks for fifty miles without eating. During 
the latter part of his march he will move by con- 
suming his oAvn flesh, it being eaten up by oxygen 
at the lungs. If now he kills a deer, and eats two 
pounds of venison, he will continue his march, con- 
suming the flesh of the deer, in his movements, 
instead of, as before, wasting his own body. Flesh 
is nearest to blood ; its ingestion increases the pro- 
portion of fibrine, and the activity of nutrition. 
In the first place, the heart, the source and centre 
of vigor, itself a powerful muscle, is reinforced in 
its own tissue, so as to act with increased force 
on the mass of fluid life which every four minutes 
pours through it. So, also, the Avhole volume of 
blood is promptly reinforced, by which all parts of 
the body, as they are visited by it, are spurred to 
activity, by the constant infusion into the circulat- 
ing system of fresh vitality. In this way, the 
more violent and executive propensities of man are 
heightened. 

Second. When the juice of flesh is analyzed, it 
is found to consist of albumen, and lactic and phos- 
phoric acids. It also contains a small quantity of 



82 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

creatinine, a substance not fully understood, but 
■which is known to be a powerful organic base, of 
similar nature with the active clement of coffee and 
of tea. Hence it is that men of active, restless, and 
rovin"^ dispositions become attached to a diet purely 
of flesh. 

"With these suggestions as to the general nutri- 
tive and stimulating powers of various foods, Ave 
pass, in our next chapter, to a consideration of clue 
and just combinations of articles in common use on 
the table. 



ON GASTKONOMY. 83 



CHAPTER IV. 

ON GASTRONOMY. 

The common idea conveyed to an American mind, 
by the word gastronomy, is the art of delighting the 
palate by fine flavors and savory dishes. Webster 
defines it as the art or science of good eating. In 
the present chapter, we use it in a sense broader 
than either the common meaninsf or the sisfnification 
given by the dictionary, but not beyond the original 
and legitimate scope of the word. 

The proper import of this term is, a knowledge 
of the laws that control the stomach, and the art of 
selecting, combining, and preparing food, so as to 
conform to those laws. 

Everybody knows the sensation that is given by 
eating a good breakfast or a satisfactory dinner; 
they have experienced the genial warmth, the kindly 
glow that follows a perfect adaptation of food to 
the demands of the system. Those, also, who 
labor have frequently found that certain dishes 
have peculiar power to sustain muscular vigor in 
the interval between meals, or to restore the strength 
wasted by toil ; yet how small is the number of 
those who have ever reasoned sufficiently upon the 



84 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

subject to arrive at valuable conclusions, or Avho can 
analyze the different courses and various dishes of a 
good dinner, and tell why soup is generally eaten 
before the roast, why desserts and fruits are brought 
on last, and why supper should, in the nature of 
things, be a lighter repast than either breakfast or 
dinner. Yet wdiat knowledge is more thoroughly 
practical, or what conduces more directly to the 
comfort and })hysical well-being of her family, than 
a proper familiarity on the part of a housewife with 
all these topics ? 

No person can be a good engineer without a 
knowledge of the steam-producing value of different 
kinds of fuel. He should know when he Avants fat 
j)ine, and when he wants ash under his boilers, and 
when inferior wood wall give as much motive-poAvcr 
as he requires. In like manner, she Avho provides 
for a family their daily food, or who studies the 
comfort and delight of her guests, should know 
what makes the best dinner for laborers, how winter 
fare should vary from summer fare, how to brace 
the s^^stem to endure the cold, how to repair the 
waste of nerve-force produced by excitements and 
over-activity, how to fortify the constitution when 
there is frequent exposure to malaria, and Avhen the 
nectar of delicious fruits and the gratification of 
toothsome viands may be freely indulged in. 



ON GASTRONOMY. 85 

Beginning with the morning meal, which, in a 
great majority of families, is eaten, in smnmer, about 
seven o'clock, let us take what would be considered 
a good bill of fare, and analyze it, to see how it 
corresponds Avith the established and scientilic prin- 
ciples of hygiene, as deduced from chemistry and 
physiology : — 

Broiled Steak ; 

Boiled Eggs ; 

Coffee, with milk and sugar; 

Wheat Batter Cakes ; 

Graham, or Boston Brown Bread ; 

Baked Apples. 
As our society is constituted, the greatest amount 
of physical and mental vigor is concentrated within 
the hours that intervene between the first and second 
meals of the day. We come to the breakfast-table 
hungry, for more than twelve hours have elapsed 
since the last food was taken. The frame is re- 
freshed with the repose of sleep, and there are 
before us seven hours of strenuous exertion of some 
kind, of toil of the hands or of the brain. It is 
obvious, then, that a breakfast should not load the 
stomach with a large amount of rich and bulky 
food. It is not a time for puddings or pastries, or 
for oily meats. The demand is for strength-giving 
or muscle-making food, and, of the various dishes 



86 THE nilLOSOPIIY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

which hiivc this power, none is more valuable or 
effective than beef-steak. Take a slice of the lean 
flesh of a bullock, of the size and thickness of the 
four fingers, dress it with pepper and butter, and 
lay it over hot coals on a gridiron, — one of Avire 
is the best, — turning it three times. Eat -svhile 
hot, salting to taste. This amount of tender and 
well-cooked flesh will reinforce the blood more 
promptly than anything else, and fortify the system 
for the work of the morning. The eggs have nutri- 
tive powers very similar to those of steak, but thc}^ 
are less exciting. While the fibrine of the flesh and 
the albumen of the cg'^ yield all that is required 
to the muscles, provision must be made for the 
lun"-s, which require a supply of carbon for heat- 
producing purposes, that varies with the season of 
the vear and the exposure to the external air. The 
starch of wheat flour and of bread aflbrd this carbon 
in a form easily digested and universally palatable. 
If the wheat cakes are of fine flour, the bread should 
be of materials more coarsely ground, because the 
gastric juices can act upon the surface only of what 
is presented in the stomach, and large particles of 
crushed grain do not form lumps, as is apt to be the 
case with cakes made of fine flour. In the baked 
apple, a small amount of mild, vegetable acid is 
blended with the other viands, and, aside from their 



Olf GASTRONOMY. 87 

grateful taste, active and kindly digestion is thus 
promoted. 

If coffee is indulged in at all, it should he drank 
in the morning, so that its stimulating effect upon 
the nerves may pass away hefore the hours of relax- 
ation and repose. A single cup of well-made coffee, 
which has not boiled more than five minutes, — thus 
giving, not a decoction, but an infusion of the Ara- 
bian berry, — will rarely prove injurious to a great 
majority of constitutions ; and in hot climates, or 
hot weather, especially where heat and moisture are 
combined, it acts, according to Liebig, directly 
upon the liver, and checks the tendency to bilious 
derangements. "When a person is travelling, or 
expecting to travel, and is thereby exposed to great 
vicissitudes of temperature and sudden changes, the 
cup of coffee at breakfast is of nearly as much 
importance as any article of food. The wagoner 
or teamster, who leaves the house perhaps at da}'- 
liirht in winter, and does not see it again till ni^jht- 
fall, let liira not go out from the place he calls 
home, no matter how humble the cottage or cabin 
may be, without having his stomach fortified b}^ a 
good, smoking cup of Avell-boiled coffee. It is bet- 
ter for him fiir than a drink of whiskey, as any man 
who has tried them both will testify. 

Although the above is very nearly perfect as a 



88 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

bill of f;ire for breakfast, it is by no means practi- 
cable to have beef- steaks, or eggs, or baked apples 
upon the table every morning, nor, in fact, does 
any person "wish to have i^recisely the same food for 
breakfast three hundred and sixty-five days in a 
year. Change is not only desirable for the palate, 
but necessary to meet the various demands of the 
body. One part or another of the economy is in 
want to-day of a little more phosphorus, to-morrow 
of anotlier grain of iron ; another organ is clamorous 
for potash ; and the bones, particularly in youth, 
are perpetually calling out for phosphate of lune. 
These various though subtle chemical wants are 
met only by a proper variety of dishes. A man 
wishes to range through the whole gamut of cookery, 
and l)ring upon his table representatives of all the 
zones and continents. But however the breakfast 
or the dinner may be varied, in the former meal wo 
should never fail to give a due ascendancy to dishes 
of a highly nutritious or muscle-making character. 

Ham may very properly take the place of beef- 
steak, and boiled or baked j^otatoes of the wheat 
batter cakes, apple-sauce being sulistitutcd for 
baked apples, and milk or buttermilk for c5iFee. 

In the country, particularly in spring and summer, 
the question often puzzles the housewife what she 
shall prepare for breakfast. Let us suggest a few 



ON GASTRONOMY. 89 

dishes that are eminently suitable for that meal. 
For six persons, for instance, take from quarter to 
half a pound of dried beef, cut into thin slices, and, 
after trimming off the edges and tough ends, soak 
in a jjint of soft water. If a little soda or borax is 
added to the Avater the dish will be improved. 
When the fire is burning, put on the beef, in a 
stew-pan, in the water in which it has soaked. Let 
it boil ten minutes. By that time much of the 
water will be evaporated. Now, add half a pint of 
milk, and, when that is boiling, beat six eggs and 
add them, stirring constantly till the eggs are nearly 
stiffened. Pepper according to taste. This dish is 
especially suited to hot weather, as it supplies plas- 
tic material from the llesh, the egg, and the curd of 
milk, with but a moderate amount of animal oil in 
the yolk of the eggs. Eaten with good wheat 
bread, it forms an excellent breakfast. 

Cold sliced tongue, treated in a similar way, is 
very good ; or it may be eaten separately, and the 
eggs poached and served on a slice of dry toast. 

Fish of some kind is very largely eaten by most 
families at breakfast. The cod and mackerel are to 
be had in' nearly every grocery in the country. In 
general, fish contains from half to two-thirds as 
much nourishment as flesh, pound for pound. But, 
on account of the salt used in curing them, and the 

8* 



90 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

oil they contain, lish create a thirst which makes 
them unsuitable for warm weather. Some fish as a 
relish, and because the system can derive the re- 
quired phosphates from it, is very well ; but for 
nutrition, no variety of fish will compare with beef, 
mutton, and eggs. 

In northern climates, and in winter, food is taken 
for the purpose of supplying the animal warmth, as 
well as for strength ; and this should be kept in 
view by the housewife when she jirepares her break- 
fast. The oils and fats are the substances that are 
richest in carljon, the element required in lung- 
combustion ; and the problem for the cook and pur- 
veyor is how to introduce these substances into the 
stomach in such a way as not to impede digestion. 
The mode of blendins: the animal oils with various 
other substances that come on the table requires 
special skill and attention on the part of the house- 
wife. Butter is the animal oil which is most readily 
assimilated in the stomach. The smoking of hams, 
and the saire and other seasoning used in making 
sausages, are found to have some effect, the reason 
of which is not understood, in making the fat of 
pork digestible and wholesome. 

Let us take now a bill of faro for breakfast in 
winter, and see how it meets the demands of the 
system in that season : — • 



ON GASTR0N03IY. 91 

Fried Sausages, with Potatoes ; 

Cold boiled Tongue ; 

Indian jNlush, fried ; 

Buckwheat Batter Cakes ; 

Pickled Cucumbers. 
The sausages yield an abundance of animal fat, 
that, combined with the potato, which is almost 
wholly starch, is taken into the stomach in a 
form to be easily attacked by its juices. The lean 
parts of the meat in the sausage, which should ex- 
ceed the fat parts by one-half, give muscle-making 
elements. The tongue is wholly muscular and 
flesh-producing. The Indian mush, fried, is heat- 
producing, but in a lower degree than the fat of the 
sausage. It contains gluteil, which affords the ele- 
ments of muscle. The buckwheat batter cakes are 
also rich in carbon, but poor in nitrogen ; this is the 
reason why they are generally eaten in winter ; and, 
as they give but little strength, are ill suited to the 
laborer, and should be combined with substances 
rich in plastic material. The acid, a little of which 
should accompany every meal, especially one so 
rich in carbonized materials as this, is supplied by 
the cucumber and vinegar. 

A breakfast like this is very well adapted to a 
cold winter's morning, when the male members of 
the family expect to be out all day sledding, or 



92 THE nilLOSOPIIY OF IIOUSE-KEEPIXG. 

otherwise engaged in the open air, bnt not at hard 
^vork. If a man is to chop, or thresh, or shovel, 
lu! should eat more of muscle-making food, as the 
heat required "will come from the combustion of 
muscle in active exercise. But where one has to 
endure cold passively, — that is, without the ability 
to move freely and vigorously, as in teaming, — 
there should be a generous allowance of carbonized 
materials in the diet. 

Approaching, now, the most important meal of 
the day, let us take, first, a good dinner in cold 
weather, the bill of fare running, for instance, as 
follows : — 

Barley Soup ; 

Roast Beef, with Cranberry-sauce ; 

Potatoes, Parsnips, Ruta Baga; 

Dressed Celery ; 

Baked Indian Pudding ; 

Apples. 
"What are the characteristics of a good soup, and 
why are soups universally eaten as the first dish? 

No soup is good, or fairly entitled to the name, 
that is not essentially the essence of some nutritious 
meat, properly dissolved in water, and duly cooked. 
When we sit down at two o'clock, having eaten 
nothing since an early breakfast, what is the condi- 
tion of the system? There has intervened .since 



ON" GASTRONOMY. 93 

breakfast a period of six or seveu hours, during 
which there has been a constant draught upon the 
muscles and the nervous system. Probably the 
greater part of a day's work is accomplished. The 
loudest clamor is made by the stomach, where the 
digestion of strength-giving food takes place, and 
the first call of nature is for something that will 
repair as quickly as possible the wasted muscular 
tissue. Nothing will do this so quickly or so effect- 
ually as to present the juice of flesh, properly pre- 
pared. Let a soup, then, be made by taking any 
good piece of flesh, whether of ox, sheep, or fowl, 
and putting it in soft, tepid water, and apply heat 
gradually. The Avarm water will favor the extrac- 
tion of the juices of the meat ; and the process will, 
of course, be facilitated by cutting the piece into 
small slices or fragments. After this extraction has 
continued two or three hours, then increase the 
heat, and add various ingredients to flavor the soup. 
It comes to the table hot, and the chief flavor should 
be that of the meat used in making it. Barley, rice, 
or vegetables may be used singly or in combina- 
tion. Barley alone, in a soup made of the lean 
flesh only, gives a fine color and a pleasant flavor. 

Why is such a soup as this so grateful to the 
stomach of a hungry man ? Because the absorbents 
of the stomach can take up the elements of muscle 



94 THE PHILOSOrilY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

from this juice of flesh, and thus reinforce the blood 
witli the greatest promptness. In other words, the 
uneasiness of hunger can be more quicl^ly removed 
by " a hasty plate " of good soup, than by any other 
variety of food. But our digestive organs are not 
fitted to operate on liquids alone ; their soundness 
and vigor depend on their having solid matter upon 
•which to act. Hence the impropriety of swallowing 
any great amount of soup. After a few spoonfuls, 
eaten with a little stale Avheat bread, we jjass on to 
what the French very properly call the piece da 
resistance, or that upon which the hunger wears 
itself down, and becomes nearly satiated. This is 
roast beef, eaten with cranberry-sauce, the usual 
vegetables, and a little dressed celery. 

Up to this point, the meal has abounded in the 
plastic rather than the heat-giving elements. But 
the long, cold night of winter is soon to follow, 
durins: which there will be little or no muscular 
exercise to aid in keeping up animal heat. Hence 
the propriety of closing the meal with some dish in 
which carbon abounds in a form easily digested. 
This is found in most of the puddings, which are 
composed of some of the grains or starchy roots, 
combined with sugar and butter, and agreeably fla- 
vored with spices or an aromatic oil. 

The juices of the apple quench thirst, aid in diges- 



I 



ON GASTRONOMY. 95 

tiou, aud act beneficially upon all parts of the ali- 
mentary canal. 

Thus we see, in the various dishes of an ordinary 
family dinner, not a fashionable code, not a chance 
arrangement, but a true and rational order, a just 
and normal method, suggested by every enlightened 
appetite, and endorsed by the last and most valu- 
able conclusions of animal chemistry. 

IIoAV should this bill var}- in summer, to suit the 
demands of the system in that season ? Chiefly in 
the omission of highly carbonized or heat-making 
dishes, and the substitution of the ripe vegetables 
and wholesome fruits which are then in season. 
Thus, for Indian pudding, tapioca, suet, and rich 
plum puddings, use blanc-mange, frozen pudding, 
snow pudding, velvet cream, cold custard, whortle- 
berry jjudding, apple pie, gooseberry pic, currant, 
and cherry pie. 

AVhat are — we may properly discuss in the clos- 
ing paragraph of this chapter on the science of good 
eating — what are the essential requisites o^ n feast? 
What points should the gastronome, the gourmand, 
or the lady who aims to delight her guests, bear in 
mind ? 

Shall we enumerate them in order? First of all, 
she should consider the probable condition of those 
who come to her table, asking herself how long it 



96 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

has been since they may have eaten, and how they 
have been enfraircd in the interval. 

If a company of vigorous men approach her table, 
■who have been chasing a fox, or surveying land, or 
rowing, or rolling ten-pins, or ploughing, or hoeing, 
or chopping wood, they will want the materials for 
making up muscular waste, and should find au 
abundant supply of juicy flesh. If, on the other 
hand, her men are only white-handed, carpet 
knights, each one of Avhom is to be sandwiched be- 
tween two ladies, their fastidious appetites are to be 
enticed by variety and flattered by novelties. 

She should then resfard the season and the amount 
of exposure to the cold. Thus a party who have 
been out sleidrh-ridins: will relish nothing so much as 
a highly carbonized dish ; while those who have 
been exposed to continued heat will be delighted 
with cooling fruits and acids, and require lean meats 
only for repairing the waste of tissue. 

Third ; let her consider the digestibility of her 
dishes, remembering that some meats require three 
hours lonsjer ^o become assimilated than others, and 
that a diflerence of two hours in the digestion of an 
^oo is produced by the mode of cooking. 

Above all, and perpetually, let the cook bear in 
mind that animal oil is a curse, a burden and night- 
mare in the stomach, unless duly and skilfully 



ON GASTRONOMY. 97 

blended with coarse and starchy material, and that 
nature can, with far greater ease to herself, derive 
carbon from starch than from crude quantities of 
fat. 

Fourth ; the chief delight of the palate comes 
from delicate flavors ; but the richness of flavor is 
no sign of the value or digestibility of an article as 
food. The delight of flavors is given in two ways ; 
first, by preserving in the greatest perfection the 
natural flavor of the flesh or the fruit, as in cooking 
a beef-steak or a shad, or in serving strawberries ; 
and, second, giving foreign flavors to dishes natu- 
rally insipid, as when nutmeg is grated over rice, 
or th3^me and garlic are added to soup. 

The old Persians had a maxim, that hunger is the 
best sauce ; but none relish a fine flavor better than 
those whose appetite Avould enable them to eat of 
a dish though unpalatable. The laborer, accus- 
tomed to a diet of fried pork, boiled potatoes, cold 
cabbage, and baked beans, is just as able to appre- 
ciate a pineapple, a Bartlett pear, or Italian cream, 
as the professional epicure. 

The reputation of a meal is often made by the 

farewell flavor left by the last delicacy. On that 

account, let the hostess reserve some rare and 

highly-flavored fruit for the conclusion of the meal ; 

9 



98 TPIE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

as, for instance, canned peaches, strawberries, or 
cherries, grapes, pears, or a pineapple. 

Tlie pleasure that may be given by a careful re- 
gard to all these principles of gastronomy, is as 
rational and as noble as any human delight, except 
those which flow from the exercise of the highest 
faculties and the cultivation of the celestial virtues. 
In that rarest and richest picture of the hospitali- 
ties of the sinless creatures whom God placed in the 
primeval garden, we read that, — 

" with despatchful looks, in haste 

Eve turns, on hospitable thoughts intent 
"What choice to choose for delicacy best. 
What order, so contrived as not to mix 
Tastes not well joined, inelegant; but bring 
Taste aftertaste upheld with kindliest change. 
From many a berry and from sweet kernels pressed, 
She tempers dulcet creams : nor these to hold 
"Wants her fit vessels pure ; then strews tlie ground 
"With rose and odors from the shrub infumed." 




1. Sirloin. 

2. Rump. 

3. Edge Bone. 

4. Buttock. 

5. Mouse Buttock. 

6. Veiny Piece. 

7. Thick Flank. 

8. Tliin Flank. 

9. Lesr. 



10. Fore rib : Five ribs. 

11. Middle rib : Four ribs. 

12. Ciiuck: Three ribs. 

13. Shoulderor leg-of-mutton Piece. 

14. Brisket. 

15. Clod. 

16. Neck, or Sticking Piece. 

17. Shin. 

18. Cheek. 



100 



SELECTION AND COOKERY OF MEATS. 101 



CHAPTER V. 

SELECTION, PKESERVATION, AND COOKERY OF 
MEATS. 

The more Nature is interrogated by Science, in- 
quiring into the all-important subject of Human 
Food, the more uniform and emphatic the testimony 
becomes as to the superiority of a flesh diet for 
giving strength and vigor to the frame. 

Some vegetarians have reached advanced years, 
but there is no reason to suppose that beefsteaks 
would have shortened their days. All the more 
vigorous nations of the world are large consumers 
of lean flesh. The rice-eating millions of Asia are 
governed by the beef-eating thousands of England. 
New York City consumes a larger proportion of 
beef to her population than any other city in the 
world ; and where on the face of the earth can be 
found a million of people more vigorous, more ener- 
getic and enterprising, than in the metropolis of 
the New World ? 

"The influence of diet over muscular fibre," says 
Dr. Chambers, a popular English writer on Phys- 
iology, " is an important social question ; for thews 
and sinews have always ruled the world, in peac© 
9* 



102 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

and in "war, in a proportion quite equal to brains. 
Indeed, it is a question which the present writer is 
disposed to answer in the affirmative, whether, 
nationally , muscular and mental energy do not al- 
ways run in couples, and whether the first is not 
the cause of the second. It does not appear that 
any diet, so there be plenty of it, is incapable of 
fitting a man to get through his daily work in a 
fashion; but the best specimens of the species in 
their several sorts, hunters, agriculturists, or citi- 
zens, are those nations icho get most Jlesh-meat. A 
collateral advantage of a meat diet to a nation, is 
the difficulty of obtaining it ; for the truth, prob- 
ably, is, that the mode of procuring food has as 
great an influence over mind, manners, and mus- 
cles, as the nature of the food itself. He that is 
satisfied with what he can pick up, ready grown, 
degenerates either into a starved New Hollander, 
where food is deficient, or into an effeminate creature 
like the old inhabitants of the West Indies, where 
it is abundant ; while a civilized people, with a care 
for their meat and diet, will have thought about it, 
labored for it steadily, advanced science, and ran- 
sacked nature, to improve it, and obtained their 
reward in the search itself. " 

In the configuration of this continent, nature 
seems to have fitted it up as the home of a vigorous 



SELECTION AND COOKERY OF MEATS. 103 

and po\\crful race, who should have greater facili- 
ties for supplying themselves with flesh for food 
than any great nation that has ever figured in his- 
tory. The vast region lying in the centre of the 
continent reaching from the great lakes to the Rio 
Grande, and from the Mississippi to the bases of 
the Rocky Mountains, is designed by the Creator 
as the grazing field for America, Millions and mil- 
lions of beeves and of muttons can be produced at 
but a trifling cost, and made to feed all the inhab- 
itants of the Central Valley and of the Atlantic 
Coast with food more perfectly calculated than any 
other to the development of strength and the sup- 
ply of mental and muscular waste. 

By resorting to the bullock and the sheep for a 
considerable part of our food, wc are really making 
a more economical use of the earth than if the race 
lived only on seeds and roots. In this way the 
grasses of the great prairies and the wide plains 
which stretch for a thousand miles eastward from 
the mountains are transmuted into food fn- man. 
The ox takes grass, which man cannot eat, and con- 
verts it into the albumen, the fibrine, and the gela- 
tine, which man can use directly, and with the 
greatest facility, in repairing his wasting tissues. 
These animals may be considered as moving labora- 
tories, fitted up with all the necessary apparatus for 



104 THE nilLOSOPIIY OF UOUSK-KKKl'lNG,- 

transmuting the nourishing properties of grass into 
a form suited to hmnan uses. It is somewhat re- 
markable that the juices of flesh are peculiarly 
useful in repairing muscular waste. We crai get 
our warmth from wheat and corn, oats and pota- 
toes ; but, in swallowing a few mouthfuls of juicy 
and tender steak, we are taking into our circulation 
a fund of life and vigor, which could not be derived 
from a pound of bread alone. 

As a nation, the Americans make far too constant 
and universal use of pork. The flesh of the hog 
has none of the juicy and stimulating properties of 
beef, and is far more difficult of digestion than 
mutton. The fat of the hog is the heaviest and 
most unmanageable of the animal oils taken into 
the stomach. He is fattened almost wholly on 
roots and grains, which might Avith much better 
economy be consumed at first-hand as food by man. 
The labor of the ox and the milk of the cow rank 
them among the most valuable of animals before 
they are brought to the shaml)les. But the hog is 
a filthy, useless, and often diseased brute, that 
would not be tolerated near the haunts of civilized 
man, were he not fiittened and brought upon the 
table. 



SEr.KCTION AND COOKERY OF INIEATS. 105 



THE SELECTION OF BEEF. 

The first rule, then, that should govern in the 
selection of animal food, is to choose the red, or 
muscular flesh of clean beasts. Among these, the 
ox has the same preeminence that wheat has among 
the edible grains. 

As to which affords the best beef, the ox or the 
cow, the age at which a bullock should be brought 
to the slaughter-house, the food upon which the 
animal is fattened, as affecting the flavor of the 
meat, these are matters of importance to the drover, 
the butcher, and the epicure ; but the experience 
of the housewife begins at the market-house, and 
the earliest of her duties is to know, when she 
approaches a butcher's stall, or stands over the meat- 
cart, what part to choose, what are the characteris- 
tics of rich and juicy, and what the signs of jejune, 
tough, and unsavory flesh. 

The first thing to be observed in buying l)eef, is 
its color and general appearance. The muscular 
parts should be of a fine carnation red, and the 
suet, or fat, of a clear white. Much depends, also, 
on the fibre or grain of the meat. Heifer beef is 
generally of a closer grain, and a little paler in 
color. In choice beef, there is a blending of fat 



/OQ THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

with Iho muscular parts, which gives a somewhat 
mottled appearance. If the muscle is of a heavy 
red, without any graining or streaking of fat, you 
cannot expect fine flavor. The animal was poor, 
and probably old, and you will get no satisfaction 
from the purchase, no matter ho'.v you dress it. 
As a general thing, it does not pay to buy much 
bone with the meat. Many people, in limited cir- 
cumstances, think it economy to buy a hock, or 
shin, to boil for soup, or to make a stew. lu gen- 
eral, the butcher does not niako sufficient deduction 
for the weight of bone. That tough, sinewy part, 
has very little nutriment in it. The gelatine will 
not give strength, and hardly supports life. The 
fat is useful only as a juice for the muscle, and then 
its quantity should be small, except in the coldest 
weather. Eemember, that what you want is red, 
savory juice, in tender muscle. The mere muscle, 
after all the juice is washed and pressed from it, 
has no virtue at all. Even a dog will refuse it. 
There is no juice in the l)one, or in the tendons and 
cartilasfes. 

The choice cuts of beef arc, first of all, the sirloin, 
marked 1, in the cut at the head of this chapter, 
and the rump, marked 2. From these }'ou may 
have steaks cut, or it may be roasted or baked 



SELECTION AND COOKEUT OV ^lEATS. 107 

whole, ill a piece weighing from ten to llftecn 
pounds. 

The buttock, marked 3 and 4, is often called the 
round, and steaks cut from it are called round 
steaks. At most stalls, if you call for steak, you will 
have three kinds or grades offered you, — tender- 
loin, OV porter-house, as it is called in the New York 
market, sirloin, and round. The tenderloin steaks 
are a few choice cuts from near the point where the 
sirloin merges into rump. You may knoAv this part 
by the shape of the bone that goes Avith it, which 
resembles the letter T. The flesh on the upper or 
larger side is not quite equal to that on the under 
side. This last is, by the French, cut from the 
bone, and cooked in small, delicate slices, or tit- 
bits. This part of the animal is the tendercst, but 
its flavor is not so rich as that of some cuts from the 
rump. If the animal is young, and well fattened, 
that is, a bullock or heifer three years old, and 
killed as soon as fully grown and in good order for 
the butcher, the round is likely to prove well- 
flavored, and sufficiently tender. But an old ox, 
or cow will never give choice cuts from the but- 
tock. The thickness of the steak is a matter of 
much importance ; and most butchers will require 
an instruction on that point. You may not want 
more than a pound or two for a single meal. In 



108 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

that case, if he cuts a thin slice from the Avhole face 
of his round-piece, you cannot hope for good eating 
from it. It will shrink to a dry, leathery morsel, 
which no additions of butter, or pepper, or sauce, 
can make toothsome. Call nothing a steak that is 
not as thick, at least, as the palm of your hand ; 
and on no account allow your meat-man to serve 
you anything thinner. 

With regard to roasting pieces, your choice as to 
size must depend, mainly, upon the number of per- 
sons who surround your dinner-table. For a family 
of twelve, seven or eight pounds is none too much. 
For roasts, the sirloin is the first choice, but the ribs 
of the fore-quarters marked 10, 11, and 12, in the 
cut, are very good. 

For beef a-la-mode, the proper part is the round, 
and six or seven pounds are generally bought for 
that form of cookery. The inferior pieces, from 
the fore-quarters, neck, and head, marked 13, 15, 
16, and 18, are good only for stews, soups, or to 
chop fine for mince-meat, and beef sausages. 

DIRECTIONS FOR COOKING BEEF. 

How to Broil Steaks. — As above in dicated, the 
thickness of a steak should be from half to three- 
quarters of an inch, and uniform. It ought to be 
cooked as soon as possible after it is cut from the 



SELECTIOX AND COOKERY OF MEATS. 109 

rump or sirloin. Trim each steak neatly. A proper 
fire should be prepared beforehand. If you are 
burning anthracite coal, let the contents of the grate 
burn down so as to emit little or no blue flame. 
Then lay on the top of this bed a few pieces of 
charcoal ; and when they are fairly ignited, have 
the steak read}-. The best gridiron, is one made 
of wire; in all cases the bars of a gridiron should 
be small. Apply a little melted Inittcr to the sur- 
face of the steak, and a slight sprinkling of black 
pepper, but no salt. The fire should be hottest at 
first ; or, what amounts to the same thing, the meat 
should be held nearer at the first than at the latter 
part of the broiling. Shall I give you, now, a good 
reason for this? If so, the direction will be much 
better remembered. Bear in mind that the juice 
of flesh, and particularly of beef , is the all-important 
part, and the fibre is of no importance, except as a 
vehicle for conveying the juice in a proper condition 
into the stomach. This juice of flesh has very 
nearly the same constituents as the contents of an 
egg ; and the efiect of heat is to coagulate, and ren- 
der it hard, just like the white of an egg, hard- 
boiled. AVhen this coagulated albumen of flesh is 
taken into the stomach, it requires twice as long to 
digest it ; just as it takes over three hours to digest 

10 



110 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

a hard-boiled egg, whereas one cooked in the best 
manner can be assimilated in an hour and a half. 
Now, if a sharp fire is applied to the surface of a 
steak, the juice near the surface becomes immedi- 
ately stificned or coagulated. This locks in the 
remaining part of the juice, and it is not necessary 
that this should be coagulated. All it requires is to 
be thoroughly heated, in order to take off the raw 
taste of the flesh. Two or three minutes is long 
enough to cook the surface of each side of a steak, 
and it should remain over the fire a minute or two 
longer, according to the intensity of the fire, or the 
thickness of the steak, so that in all, from eight to 
ten minutes is enough for most palates, and too 
long for those who like their meat decidedly rare. 
There is a diflcrence in the practice of the most 
skilful cooks, as to the number of times a steak 
should be turned while cooking. Some say but 
once, others every two minutes, making three or 
four times in all. Let the plate or jjlatter upon 
which the steak is to be served be heated, and carry 
the dish immediately from the fire to the table. 
There is no dish in the world that so rigidly re- 
quires to ])e eaten hot, as steak. A cold cup of 
cofiee, cold batter cakes, " the cold shoulder," and 
"a cool reception," are all tolerable, — we can use 
philosophy, and forget them; but a cold steak is 



II 



SELECTION AND COOKERY OF MEATS. Ill 

abominable, — it is barbarous. A good steak, duly 
and artistically cooked, requires no sauce at all ; like 
peaches, it should be eaten in its own juice ; if 3'our 
butter is truly first-class, fragrant, and delicate, use 
a little of it, nor is there any objection to two or 
three drops of lemon-juice ; but Worcestershire, 
tomato, walnut, mushroom, I would as soon think 
of pouring them over a Bartlett pear as over a first- 
class, fragrant, juicy, savor}', smoking beefsteak. 

There is hardly [iny dish so universal on Ameri- 
can tables everywhere as what is called beefsteak ; 
yet for one properly cooked specimen, the traveller 
will eat nine hundred and ninety-nine scraps of 
tough, juiceless, leathery meat, sometimes swim- 
ming in hog's lard, sometimes drenched with bad 
butter, and anon smothered and recking in bits of 
stewed onion. 

If you arc using wood as fuel, draw out upon the 
hearth a bed of hard- wood coals, and place the grid- 
iron directly over them. Turn once in the course 
of three minutes, and then reduce the heat In' 
sprinkling ashes upon the coals, otherwise the out- 
side will burn before the interior is cooked. 

Roast Beef. — This fine old English dish is at 
present very little used in this country. AVhat Ave 
call roast beef, is cooked by baking in a stove 
oven. But if one has an open fire in the kitchen, 



112 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

there is no better Avay of cooking a sirloin than as 
folloAvs : — 

After washing tlie piece in cold water, hang or oth- 
erwise place it before the fire with a dripper beneath 
containing a pint of cold water. The heat should 
not be such as to scorch the outside. Turn fre- 
quently, and baste every fifteen minutes, until the 
meat has been before the fire nearly two hours. 
Then remove and baste thoroughly, and sprinkle it 
with flour. Returning it to the fire, allow it to 
brown and froth all over till done. About two and 
a half hours are necessary to roast a sirloin or rib- 
piece of ten or twelve pounds' weight. 

Beef a-la-mode. — This is almost the only French 
style of cooking beef that has become fairly natu- 
ralized in this country. There are several ways of 
preparing a-Ia-mode, of which the following, recom- 
mended by Monsieur Blot, is certainly as good as 
any, and probably the best : — 

Take eight or ten pounds of round, rump, or the 
inside of the sirloin, called by the French the fillet, 
• — the round or buttock is the most suitable, — and, 
after removing the bone, if any comes with it, cut 
several deep gashes in the flesh, and fill them with 
salt fat pork. Then put into a crockery stewpan half 
a calf's foot, a handful of parsley, a bay leaf, a little 
garlic, a sprig of thyme, two onions Avith a few 



SELECTION AND COOKERY OF MEATS. 113 

cloves stuck in them, half a carrot, half a pound of 
fat pork cut into little square pieces, cover with a 
gill or more of good cider vinegar. Place the beef 
npon this mixture, and set over a slow fire or in 
a moderately heated oven, and let it cook about 
five hours. The heat should be just enough to keep 
it simmering gently. 

When done, strain the same, taking oft* some of 
the fat and pour it over the beef laid in the centre 
of a large salver or platter. For a small family 
who wish to avoid the labor of frequent and labori- 
ous cookery, this mode of preparing beef is very 
well suited. When hot, the dish is savory, and 
makes a good dinner with little else. When cold, it 
is almost as good ; and, in cool weather, will keep 
a week. 

Another style of a-la-mode is, to chop fat pork 
with bread crumbs, using most of the above season- 
ing, and forcing or stuffing the mixture into the 
gashes cut in the beef. Put it into a saucepan, 
with the rind of a lemon, four large onions, three 
or four carrots and turnips cut into little squares. 
Pour over all half a pint of good vinegar ; stew 
over a slow fire six or seven hours, turning the 
beef several times. Half an hour before the dinner 
hour, take out the piece and the vegetables, skim 
oft" the fat, strain the sauce, thicken it with a little 

10* 



114 THE rHILOSOrilY of HOUSE-KEEPmO. 

« 

flour mixed smooth in water, add a teacupfid of 
port wine. Hctuni all to the saucepan, and, as 
soon as it hoils, take up and serve. 

To maJce a Beef Stew. — Take three or four 
pou..ds of the muscular flesh, — it may be from the 
neck or a leg, — and slice it thin. Cut a quarter of 
a pound of pork into little square pieces ; put them 
into a ste^vpan, with a little water. Lay the meat 
in, and set over a brisk fire for fifteen minutes. 
Take oif and remove the meat from the stewpan, 
both beef and pork. To the sauce add a lump of 
butter of the size of a walnut, and a little flour, stir- 
ring constantly with a wooden spoon. Then return 
the meat, and with it half a wineglass of tomato 
(atsup, four onions, a bay leaf, some allspice, two 
or tliree carrots cut fine, a little parsle}^ a little 
th3'me, and some salt. Keep over a slow fire for 
five hours ; skim ofi" the fat, and serve. 

Here let us indicate one almost universal error in 
American cookery. We cook hy too hot a five. 
With the exception of steaks, all other ways of pre- 
paring beef require a slow fire. 

To make a Soup, or Broth. — In preparing soup, 
begin betimes, and allow full five hours for the pro- 
cess. Cut the meat small, and put it in cold water. 
The fire should be very gentle, so the water shall 
be only a little hotter than the hand can bear for 



SELECTION AND COOItERY OF MEATS. 115 

• 

tour hours. By this time the juices of the meat 
will be Avell dissolved in the water. Now add rice, 
barley, vegetables of various kinds, and increase 
the fire so the soup will boil from half an hour to an 
hour. 

To Cook Beef in a Dutch Oven. — In many jDarts 
of the country, particularly the South, stoves and 
ranges are very little used ; and it often becomes a 
question how to use the old-fashioned oven to the 
greatest advantage. Let no housewife despair of 
the most brilliant success with her roasts if she has 
nothing else to depend upon. Only let her begin 
in time. Immediately after breakfast prepare your 
roasting-piece, and let the oven be scrupulously 
clean. Put it in the corner of the fireplace, and 
lay in, first, a few slices of pork, and some chopped 
onions and summer-savory. Cover with water, and 
add a little vinegar. Then lay in the beef, and put 
hot coals under the oven. In an hour baste and 
turn, increasing the fire a little, and adding a little 
hot water, if necessary. So continue, putting on 
the lid and covering it with hot coals, the heat being 
all the time increased to the full roasting tempera- 
ture, which should be kept up an hour and a half or 
two hours, according to the size of the roast. 

These are all the directions that are deemed neces- 
sary for one to meet the chief demand of the Amer- 



116 THE PHILOSOPHY OP HOUSE-KEEPING. 

ican palate. A housewife who can prepare n\t the 
above dishes laell may regard herself an act om- 
plished cook, so far as the flesh of oxen is concer:ied. 

MUTTON AND ITS COOKERY. 

The flesh of the sheep is by no means as highly 
esteemed for food by our people as it deserves to 
be. There are thousands who have an absurd and 
ill-founded prejudice against it, simply because it is 
"sheep meat," and oth«rs who dislike it and seldom 
or never eat it, because "it tastes of wool." 

Mutton is superior to beef in the amount of nutri- 
tion it contains, pound for pound, and its digesti- 
bility is considerably greater. 

Mr. Brande, in his Manual of Chemistry, gives 
the following table of the 

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF VARIOUS MEATS. 



100 parts of 
Muscle of 


Water. 


Albumen, or 
Fibrine. 


Gelatine. 


Total of Nutri- 
tive Matter. 


Beef, . . 


. . 74 


20 


6 


26 


Veal . . 


75 


19 


6 


25 


Mutton . 


. . 71 


22 


7 


29 


Pork . . 


. 76 


19 


5 


24 


Chicken . 


. .73 


20 


7 


27 


Cod . . . 


. 79 


14 


7 


21 


Haddock 


. . 82 


13 


5 


18 


Sole . . 


. 79 


15 


6 


21 



If Mr. Brande is right (and he has always be^M 



SELECTION AND COOKERY OF MEATS. 117 



regarded as an excellent authority), the value of 
mutton is to that of beef as eleven to ten ; so that 
eleven ounces of one are equal to ten of the other. 
By the same table, it is seen to compare with cod, 
in the amount of albumen and fibrine, in nearly the 
ratio of three to two ; that is, two pounds of lean 
mutton will go as far as three of codfish. 

The great objection to mutton among the Ameri- 
can people — its peculiar flavor, that reminds them 
of wool — is due, in great measure, to the mode of 
killing; and a practical suggestion on this point 
may be of very great value. When a mutton is 
butchered, it is of the first importance to remove 
the entrails and the skin as rapidly as possible. 
But, contrary to the usual custom, the entrails 
should come out the Jirst thing, and afterwards the 
skin stripped off. An attention to this simple rule 
I have known to produce such an effect as to remove 
at once a life-long prejudice to this excellent flesh. 

The reason for this rule I conceive to be as fol- 
lows : When any animal is killed, the surface cools 
first, and then there is a radiation of internal heat 
from the region betAveen the ribs outward. This 
heat is, in fact, a moist vapor that carries with it 
some degree of flavor or odor. Now, if the skin is 
taken off first, the surface cools a great deal faster, 
and much more of this offensive vapor from the en- 



118 THE PHILOSOniY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

trails passes through the flesh, impairing its flavor. 
It is clear, then, that the first step should be to 
arrest, as quickly as possible, this transportation of 
objectionable flavor through the flesh. It is well, 
on this account, to cool the interior cavity, as soon 
as the bowels are removed, by dashing through it 
two or three buckets of cold water. Let the skin 
bo removed rapidly, and the carcass soon placed in 
some cool, dark room. 

The leg and loin are the superior joints. The 
si^rns to be observed in selectinof mutton at the 
butcher's are very similar to those that indicate 
good or bad beef, with this difference, that too 
great fatness is an objection in mutton. This flesh 
is rather a summer than a Avinter meat ; and in 
summer there is no reason and no health in swal- 
lowing animal fat of any kind. It is advisable, 
therefore, to trim away nearly all the fat from mut- 
ton, and cook only the red flesh. Yet the best- 
flavored mutton is that which comes with the most 
fat upon it ; this is the flesh of the wether, which 
is always superior to that of the ewe. On the leg 
of the wether there is commonly a large, firm mass 
of fat, but only a white membrane, with a little fat 
attached, on the leg of the ewe. 

The following recipes, or instructions, are taken, 
with a few modifications, from the excellent treatise 



SELECTION AisD COOKERY OF 3IEATS. 119 

of Monsieur Blot, called , " What to Eat and How 
to Cook It." Mr. Blot is a thoroughly educated 
French co(jk and gastronome. It may be well to 
say, by way of explanation, that a chop is the part 
of a mutton that corresponds to the sirloin of beef 
and the roasting-pieces. It is the upper end of the 
rib and part of the spine, with the muscle adjacent. 

Chops Broiled. — Sprinkle salt (not much of it, 
however) and black pepper on both sides. Dip the 
chops in melted butter ; lay on the gridiron (one of 
wire is the best) , and set on a sharp fire, and turn 
two or three times. Arrange them tastefully on the 
dish, the curves being all the same way. Serve 
hot, and eat at once. 

AnotJier Style. — After sprinkling pepper and a 
little salt, dip in melted butter and roll in pounded 
cracker or bread-crumbs crushed fine. Place upon 
the gridiron, and allow about twelve minutes, if the 
fire is brisk, turning several times. 

Chops Fried. — Put a piece of butter of the size 
of a butternut in a stewpan, placed over a slow 
fire. When melted, lay in the chops, and turn two 
or three times Avhile cooking. W^hen done, take 
out and keep warm. Add to the gravy in the pan 
half a teacupful of broth, a sprig or two of parsley, 
and two green onions chopped, and two pickled 
cucumbers, and a pinch of allspice. Allow to boil. 



120 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

Then pour over the chops, ushig, also, lemon-juice 
as a sauce. 

IIoio to Prepare and hnprove a Leg of Mutton. — ■ 
In order to make it tender and exquisite, keep it 
from four to eight days in winter, and from two to 
four in summer, according to the heat ; then place 
it in a tureen, with one salt-spoonful of pepper, one 
teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and two table- 
spoonfuls of sweet oil, the whole spread all over; 
leave thus one day in winter, and from six to twelve 
hours in summer. This process improves it very 
much. 

Boiled Leg of Mutton. — Take the leg of mutton 
and dust it with flour, all around (after having been 
prepared as directed above, if ^-ou have chosen so 
to do), envelop it in a clean towel, after having 
bent the smaller bone ; throw it thus in boiling 
water, with a little salt, pepper, a bay leaf, two 
sprigs of thyme, two of sweet basil, and a pinch of 
scraped nutmeg ; move it gently now and then with 
a wooden spoon, and, Avhen properly cooked, serve 
it on a Avhite or caper sauce. 

Tlie same. Roasted. — Improve it as above di- 
rected, if you choose. Place it on the spit before 
a sharp fire, baste often with the drippings, and, 
when cooked, serve it with the gravy only, or with 
white kidnev beans cooked in water, and fried five 



I 




Blanc-Mange. 



Mayonnaise oi' L.i. .-'.': 




Dish of Oysters. 



SELECTION ANT> COOKERY OF MEATS. 121 

minutes in butter. It will take al^out one hour and 
a half to cook it well. Many persons lard the leg 
of mutton Avith fillets of garlic. 

TO ROAST OR BAKE A FOWL. 

A turkey, goose, or large hen should be cooked 
in this way. Smaller birds are best when broiled. 
The fowl should hang two or three days in cool 
Aveather, and one day in Avarm Aveather. 

Prepare a dressing by chopping st^de bread AA'ith 
a little fat pork ; season Avith suninier-savory, sage, 
salt, and pepper. Fill the inside, and close AAdth 
three or four stitches. Bend the legs doAAni and tie 
them. Hub the outside AAdth melted butter, and 
sprinkle Avith flour. If the hen is old, or in cooking 
a goose, Avet Avith A^negar, and use A'inegar in Avet- 
tiug the stuffing. Pour a pint or a pint and a half 
of Avater into the pan and place in the oven. The 
boat should be uniform, but not very high. Two 
hours is the rule ; to be extended to tAvo and u half 
if the fowl is A'eiy large or tough. 

TO BROIL A CHICKEN. 

It should hang a day or two. Split open on the 

back, rub over Avith melted butter, and sprinkle 

Avith black pepper before laying on the gridiron. 

The lire must be carefully regulated so as not to 

11 



122 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEKPING. 

burn, and yet he hot. A charcoal fire is tlic best. 
Eat while hot from the fire, ^vitli good potatoes or 
toasted wheat bread. 

TO STEW AN OED TUP.KEY OR A GOOSE. 

If not fat, lard Avell. Put in a large stewkettle 
half a pound of bacon cut in slices, four ounces of 
knuckle of veal, three sprigs of parsley, two of 
thyme, a bay-leaf, six small onions, a carrot, three 
cloves salt, and pepper, and then the fowl ; wet 
with half pint of vinegar, same of broth ; cover as 
nearly air-tight as you can ; place in a moderately 
heated oven or over a slow fire, and let it simmer, 
not boil, two hours and a half. Then turn it over 
and put back on the fire and cook for another two 
hours and a half. Dish the turkey, strain the sauce 
and boil it down to a jelly. It is as good eaten 
cold as warm, and may be cooked the day before 2 
grand dinner. 

PIIESERVATIOX OF MEATS. 

It is a characteristic of all highly nitrogenized 
food that it perishes very rapidly. It is on this ac- 
count, as much as any other, that all the meats are 
more expensive than the starchy foods. 

No discovery would have a greater effect upon the 
markets and the diet of the Avorld than some inven- 



SELECTION AND COOKERY OF MEATS. 123 

tion by "svhicli animal food could bo transported from 
one part of the world to another, with the same ease 
that wheat and sugar are conveyed, and Avith as 
little deterioration. 

Salt is universally employed in the process of 
curing or preserving nearly all kinds of meat. But 
the grand objection to salt is, that, Avhen used in 
sufficient quantities as to be effectual, it almost wholly 
destroys the flavor, and greatly impairs and reduces 
the nutritive properties of muscular flesh. 

There has been discovered by a Dr. Morgan, an 
English chemist and physician, a method of preserv- 
ing all kinds of animals used for food, which bids 
fair to supersede every other method. He calls it 
the infiltrating process, and it may be described, in 
brief, as a method of expelling A\\ the blood from 
the body of the animal immediately after being 
killed, and infusing in the room of the blood, a 
preserving liquid of greater or less strength accord- 
ing to the time during which the flesh or body is to 
be kept. 

In this way a bullock may be slaughtered at any 
seaport near the great plains of South America, and 
taken entire to London or New York, and the flavor 
and the richness of the meat so little impaired as to 
be hardly distinguishable from that which has been 
killed but one day. For meats that are to be kept 



124 THE rillLOSOPlIY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

1)ut a short time, and in cool weather, no more salt 
is required for the intiltratiii<j liquid than will suffice 
fen- seasoning. A solution of sugar, a little salt- 
l)etre being added, with salt enough to make a weak 
brine, will preserve beef from one to three months, 
according to season and climate. 

The discovery of Dr. ]M()rgan is evidently based 
upon sound anatomical and chemical principles, and 
it requires no expensive apparatus. Every farmer 
could use it b}' simply having a large tub or hogs- 
head placed in some upper room or loft aljout ten 
feet above the ground. The liquid is injected by 
means of a tube extending from the bottom of the 
hogshead to the platform where the animal falls. 
There is a small brass tube or nozzle at the end of 
the llexil)le pipe, \vhich is inserted in one side of the 
animal's heart. The pressure causes the liquid to 
How into every artery and vein, and return again to 
the heart, as in natural circulation. 

There are two liquids used : the first a weak brine, 
which is permitted to flow until all the blood is ex- 
pelled and the liquid runs clear ; then the opening at 
the heart is closed, and the preserving liquid injected 
by a similar pressure. 

When the veins of the animal are all tilled, the 
tube is removed from the heart, and the opening 
which was made for it carefully tied up. In this 



SELECTION AND COOKERY OF MEATS. 125 

■way the preserving fluid is securely fastened within 
the animal, and the juices of the meat are thus all 
retained instead of being drawn out by the salt, 
as in the old way of cutting up and packing in 
brine. 

This discovery, when fully perfected and brought 
into general use as it will be, is destined to 
supersede the old use entirely, at least so far 
as the preservation of beef and mutton is con- 
cerned. 

With regard to the preservation of pork, the case 
is somewhat different. The fat parts of a swine are 
very little injured by being jDacked in brine. The 
hams and shoulders are not injured in their flavor 
by the usual method, if well conducted. 

All excellent Rule for Preserving Hams. — The 
following method is practised by a large pork-raiser 
in Indiana, by which he is able to send to market 
hams of the finest flavor. This is his rule : — 

"When first butchered, rub the hams and shoulders 
with salt, and let them remain in that condition 
twenty-four or thirty-six hours. This will draw out 
the blood and prepare them for the brine, of which 
you will have a sufficient quantity in a cask to covei- 
all the pieces you wish to treat in this way. They 
should remain in the brine six weeks, — lonsrer will 
not hurt them. Brush off carefully the salt and 
11* 



126 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

impurities before putting into tlic brine. At any 
time after six weeks, I take my hams out of the 
brine, insert a strong string in the large end, and 
hang them up in the smoke-liouse, hock end down- 
wards. By this means you save much of the oil 
and juice, and give tenderness and flavor to a por- 
tion of the ham often thrown away. Smoke with 
green hickory chips to suit your fancy ^ or not at all, 
if 3'ou prefer it. But the pyroligneous acid, has, I 
think, a preservative effect, and I like the flavor it 
imparts. 

"After being sufficiently smoked or dried, make 
loose bags of brown domestic, amply large to receive 
the ham, which wrap up in a large sheet of brown 
j)aper. Put it in the bag and tie up carefully the 
mouth, leaving out the string by which it was hung 
uji, and return it to the hook in the smoke-house, 
or pantry, cellar, or any other safe, convenient 
place. 

"Hams are sometimes packed in barrels or boxes, 
with cut hay, oats, or something of the kind, but 1 
think the flavor is materially injured by such process. 
The paper and cotton bags eff'ectually protect the 
ham from tlie fly, and it will keep years in this con- 
dition." 

A-iiotJier Itecipe. — To each green ham of eighteen 
pounds' weight, allow one tea-spoonful of saltpetre 



SELECTION AND COOKERY OF ]\IEATS. 127 

and a quarter of a i^ouud of brown sugar. Rub 
this mixture brisldy upon the fleshy side, and 
around the hock. Then lay them in a hirge tub, the 
skin side down, covering the upper side with fine salt, 
half an inch thick. In cool weather they may re- 
main in this state for six weeks or two months, then 
take out, wipe them carefully, and sprinkle thor- 
oughly w'ith black pepper, especially the edges and 
hock end. Then take a large, old cask, and bore a 
number of holes opposite each other in the sides, 
and hang the hams within, on sticks inserted for the 
purpose ; cover the top with a cloth and with boards, 
and, through a small opening at the bottom, intro- 
duce a pan of hot coals covered wath corn-cobs or 
green hickory chips. Two or three days' smoking 
will generally prove sufficient ; but in families it is 
well to leave the hams hanging in the cask, as the 
flies are thus excluded. After the principal smoking, 
it is well to smoke for a short time, once in two 
weeks. 

Hams treated in this way are likely to have a 
remarkal)ly fine flavor, and to be very juicy and 
tender. The acid that comes from the smoke of 
corn-cobs or hickory wood is of a more delicate 
fragrance than that which is deposited by ordinary 
smoke. 

Directions for Preserving Beef. Glutton, Venison ^ 



128 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

and Poultry. — It is often desirable to keep meats 
for a mimber of days or weeks, without using salt 
enough to impair the flavor. There are several 
methods of doing this, of which the following are 
the best : — 

First. By the use of 8nou\ — This is practicable 
throughout the winter months, as long as it is cold 
enough for snow to remain unmelted in a cool situa- 
tion. 

Take a large shallow tub or box, bore a few holes 
in the bottom, so the drip can run off. Lay two or 
three sticks of wood crosswise across the bottom, 
fill w^ith snow to the depth of four or five inches, 
and pack down hard. Then lay in the pieces of 
meat or the poultry, crowding the snow hard around 
them ; cover with snow to the depth of several 
inches. In this manner the meats will preserve 
their flavor perfectly. 

Second. By the use of Sugar. — Take dry or 
powdered white sugar, and wipe the articles to be 
preserved. Wrap them in clean linen, or cotton, 
cloths, and cover with the sugar. They should be 
kept in a dry place, and the air excluded as much 
as possible. The sugar thus used is not impaired 
for ordinary cooking purposes. 

Third. By the use of Oatmeal. — There is a 
bitter principle in the oat, which has considerable 



SELECTION AND COOKERY OF MEATS. 129 

antiseptic virtue. The oatmeal should be dried 
before being used ; it can then be applied in the 
same manner as sugar. In cool weather, meat may 
be kept two weeks, and much longer, if the air is 
very dry. 

Fourth. By the use of Chloride of Lime. — If 
you wish to keep steaks and other small cuts 
for a number of days in hot weather, wipe the 
pieces very dry, and smear them with a solution of 
chloride of lime, and hang in a cool, dry place. Of 
course the lime is to be carefully washed off before 
using. 

PEESERVATION OF EGGS. 

There are many ways of keeping eggs fresh a 
long time. A very simple mode is by placing them 
on a sieve and jDouring hot water over them slowly. 
This stiffens or cooks the white to the depth of the 
sixteenth of an inch. Then smear the outside with a 
little copal varnish or a solution of gum-arabic, and 
pack in bran, or oatmeal, or salt, with the little end 
down. Others pack them in salt, and others in 
lime. But by this method the flavor is impaired, 
especially when lime is used. 

PRESERVATION OF MILK. 

As soon as milked, place in narrow, deep cans 



130 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

and set in a very cool place, being very careful not 
to stir or jar it, and excluding the air as much 
as possible, especially when it thunders. In this 
way, even in Jnly, milk may be kept SAveet three 
days. 



I 



FISH AND ITS PREPARATIONS. 131 



CHAPTER VI. 

nSH AND ITS PREPARATIONS. 

Man has from the earliest times derived a con- 
siderable part of his sustenance from the waters. 
With respect to heartiness, or the ability to satisfy 
hunger and supply the waste of the system, fish 
occupies the middle ground between vegetable and 
animal food. 

According to the analysis of Mr. Brande, given 
in the preceding chapter, the amount of albumen 
and fibrine, that is, of muscle-making nutriment, in 
the cod, the haddock, and the sole, is, to that con~ 
tained in beef and mutton, as fourteen to twenty-one. 
In other words, it requires three pounds of fish to 
give as much strength as may be derived from two 
pounds of flesh. The distinguishing ]3eculiarity of 
all fish, by which they differ totally from ruminating 
animals and birds, is the absence of blood and of 
the juice of flesh. On account of this lack, in the 
flesh, of juice, fish is entirely wanting in the stim- 
ulating properties which characterize beef. This is 
the reason why many kinds of fish, when properly 
cooked, are much more suitable for invalids than 
flesh. But, for the same reason, fish is not adapted 



132 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

to those whose duties are strenuous and exciting, nor 
is it well fitted to sustain heavy muscular toil. But 
fish is always a grateful contribution to our diet, on 
account of the chemical salts which it contains. 

It has been supposed that many kinds of fish, 
particularly oysters, are rich in phosphorus ; but 
the most careful and recent analyses have failed to 
detect any considerable amount of the phosphates. 
When a diet is regulated for particular purposes, 
fish is used to reduce the plethora. It is also em- 
ployed when the digestive powers are unable to 
assimilate stronger kinds of aliment, or when it is 
considered necessary to avoid the stimulation which 
butchers' meat imparts. The jockeys who wish to 
reduce their weight to the lowest figure, and submit 
to a special diet for that purpose, are never allowed 
meat when fish can bo obtained. In families, fish is 
a very suitable kind of food to be used with other 
dishes that are more stimulating. It cannot be 
made a constant substitute for butchers' meat with- 
out considerably impairing the muscular, and per- 
haps the mental, force ; yet, for persons whose 
occupations are altogether sedentary, it is found a 
very proper diet. It answers very well as a substi- 
tute for more expensive food in feeding prisoners 
and soldiers in barracks. 

The cooking of fish must vary greatly according 



i 



FISH AND ITS PREPARATIONS. 133 

to the amount of oil which is found in it, and also 
according to its condition, whether fresh or cured 
by smoke, by drying, or by salt. 

In selecting fish that are fresh, there is very little 
danger of deception. Fish of any kind, that is 
stale, emits an unpleasant odor. If it has been 
dead too long the color of the gills is faded, the fins 
are stiff, and the eyes blurred and sunken. There 
is no way in which the flavor can be restored to a 
stale fish. It should also be cleaned as soon as 
practicable after being caught. This is done by 
removing the scales, if it is a scaly fish, cutting it 
open, and taking out the insides. In dressing small 
fish, such as mountain trout, perch, bream, pike, 
and catfish, be careful not to use much water or to 
allow them to be in it. The nutritive power 
probably is not much impaired, but the delicate 
and ethereal flavor is absorbed in the water and 
lost. 

In order to extract the greatest degree of enjoy- 
ment from a string of mountain trout, which is per- 
haps the finest of our fresh-water fish, open the 
belly with scissors, taking care to cut no deeper than 
the skin, remove the inside without breaking any of 
the bowels, and wipe out the cavity with a wet 
cloth rung from clean water. Sprinkle with a little 
fine salt, unless they are to be cooked at once. If 
12 



134 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPIXG. 

it becomes neccssaiy to souk them to remove the 
salt, the flavor will be destroyed. 

To Fry all thesmaller hinds of Fresh-water Fish . — 
The French, for this pm'pose, use sweet oil, and in 
this way produce a very delicate and perfectly cooked 
dish. On account of the difficulty and expense of 
obtaining pure olive oil in this country, the fat uni- 
versally in use among us is that obtained by frying 
salt pork. Cut three or four slices of the pork and 
allow it to soak over night to extract the salt. At 
meal-time, fry the pork until it becomes crisp, and 
after removing the pork, allow the fat to remain 
upon the fire and become hot, but do not let it burn. 
Eoll the fish in Indian meal or flour, and lay them 
in the frying-pan. If they arc small, let them re- 
main on one side four or five minutes, then turn, 
and shortly after reduce the heat. They are done 
Avhen they have a crisped appearance, and the flesh 
easily parts from the bone. Very much depends on 
the quality of the fat employed in frying and on 
taking them out the moment they are done. The 
finest of fish can be utterly ruined hy allowing the 
flesh to become soaked with rancid or burnt fat. 

To Cook Fresh Shad, Salmon, and Mackerel. — 
These fish have a fine flavor of their own, which 
should be retained in cooking and preserved "un- 
mixed with baser matter." This is best done by 



4 



FISH AND ITS PREPARATIONS. 135 

broiling. For this purpose you need a ivire gridiron 
which folds, as this saves the trouble and annoyance 
of turning by the knife and fork. The cost of a 
good one is not over sixty or seventy cents. 

"With these kinds of fish use no fat of any kind, 
unless it be a little butter ; no pepper, and but little 
salt. The best sauce is a few drops of lemon-juice 
squeezed over the fish just before eating. The heat 
of the broiling-fire should be such as to crisp the 
outside in a short time, but not to burn it. The 
time necessary for broiling a shad or salmon cannot 
be prescribed. It is a matter of judgment, and 
must be varied according to the size, — that is, the 
thickness, of the fish and the sharpness of the fire. 
Generally speaking, the edges and ends will begin 
to burn a little before the cookino^ is thoroufjli. Let 
the platter be warm, and the broil served as soon as 
it leaves the fire. Cooling is fatal to enjoyment 
here, — as much so as in eating steaks. 

Mr. Blot recommends enveloping the fish in oiled 
paper before it is laid on the gridiron. 

To Bake a Fish.^—lSiviwy varieties are better 
baked than in any other way ; this is especially true 
of the sturgeon, turbot, halibut, and sheep's head, 
when of a size weighing from three to ten pounds. 
Chop bread-crumbs with the soft roe of the fish, if 
any is found in cleaning, and add a little fat pork. 



13 G THE PHILOSOFHY OF HOUSE- KEEPIXG. 

Season with an onion ov two, salt, pepper, a little 
sage or savorj', and a very little niacc. With this- 
mixture stuff the inside of the fish and bake. 

Mr. BloCs Hide. — Take three pounds of halibut, 
flounder, or flat-fish. Put in a crockery dish four 
ounces of butter, set it on a good fire, and when 
melted sprinkle in it a teaspoonful of flour, and stir. 
Add a pinch of grated nutmeg, salt, pepper, some 
chopped i^arsley, two or three mushrooms chopped, 
then the fish. Pour over it a glass of good vinegar 
somewhat diluted. Cover the dish and transfer 
to a moderately heated oven, where it should re- 
main till done. Serve in the dish in which it 
is cooked. 

For carp, tench, bass, perch, black-fish, blue-fish, 
bream, porgies, weak-fish, whiting, and the white- 
fish of the lakes, the above directions are varied by 
using a smaller quantity of good vinegar, and 
water enough to cover, and boiling gently till 
cooked. 

To Frij large Fish. — Many kinds offish, espe- 
cially those "which have a white, dry flesh which 
opens in flakes when cooked, are as good fried as in 
any other wa}'. 

Cut the fish in slices at right angles to the back- 
bone, and divide in pieces about the size of the 
palm of the hand and three-quarters of an inch 



FISH AJ7D ITS PREPARATIONS. 137 

thick. Make a thin batter by mixing grated cracker 
or dried bread with two eggs well beaten. Dip the 
fish in the batter and lay at once in hot suet. Fry 
about twelve minutes. Eat with a little walnut 
sauce and a {ew drops of lemon. 

To Cook Salt Mackerel. — Soak for two days 
after coming out of the brine in cold water. A 
very good way, where there is an open well, is to 
sink it by a small weight and twine seveiul feet be- 
low the surface. If this is not practicable, lay it in 
a small tub, with the flesh side down, and change 
the water several times. Just before cooking, lay 
it in a shallow vessel and cover with hot milk. The 
effect of the milk is to remove the strong taste so 
unpleasant when this dish is carelessly cooked. 
Take out of the milk, pour water over it to rinse, 
and wipe dry with a napkin. Then lay iu a wire 
gridiron, and broil in the same manner as fresh 
shad or fresh mackerel, and eat with lemon-juice for 
sauce. 

To Cook Salt Codfish. — Cut into pieces about 
the size of the palm of the hand, soak in water until 
quite soft, remove the skin and large bones, and dry 
it with a napkin. Then make a batter by thoroughly 
mixing two eggs with three or four Boston crack- 
ers, grated. Cover the pieces of fish with this 
batter, and fry brown with butter. 
12* 



138 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

Another Way. — In buying, select a Lig fish Avitli 
little odor and a uniform color throughout. Avoid 
those that have spots upon them, as they spoil the 
flavor of the whole fiish. Pick the flesh fine, and place 
it in cold water over night. In the morning, pour 
off the water in which it has soaked, and rinse with 
more cold water. Kext pick it to ver}' fine bits, 
cover with cold water, place upon the stove, and 
just before it boils, pour off this Avater and put in a 
pint or more of milk. As soon as the milk is hot, 
stir in flour, or, what is better, grated cracker. 
When it has boiled a few minutes, stir in two or 
three beaten eggs, add a iittle butter, and more milk 
if necessary to make it just thick enough to dip 
w^ith a spoon. This makes a very suitable dish for 
breakfast in all seasons of the year, and is vastly 
more palatable than any of the ordinary preparations 
of codfish. 

Boiled Codfish. — Take half a small fish, cut it 
into pieces and freshen, as above, and then boil for 
five or ten minutes in a large quantity of water. 
This removes the salt and most of the unpleasant 
odor. For gravy, take two tablcspoonfuls of but- 
ter, and stir into it one of flour ; pour on to this a pint 
of boiling milk or water, and M'hen it has boiled, 
serve hot with the fish. If any of the latter remains, 



FISH AND ITS PREPARATIONS. 139 

il can be made into fish-balls with potato, and fried 
in hot fat for a breakfast dish. 

Oysters, Stewed. — Separate the oysters from the 
liquor ; to this, add milk, butter, pepper, according 
to the quantity to be cooked. Bring this broth to a 
brisk boil, and then put in the oysters, after which, 
the boiling should not continue more than from two 
to three minutes. Serve hot, with crackers. 

Scalloped Oysters. — This is an excellent dish to 
set before a lady's guests as a supper or for lunch, 
or as one of the side dishes in a fine dinner. 
Take a quart of oysters, separate them from the 
liquor, and crush a pound of Boston crackers. Put 
a layer of the crackers at the bottom of a good- 
sized pudding-dish, then a layer of the oysters, 
seasoning them with salt, pepper, butter, and bits 
of lemon, then a layer of crackers, and so on until 
all your oysters are in. Pour over the Avhole the 
oyster-liquor, add a cup of milk, and bake forty 
minutes. 

Oysters, Broiled on the Shell. — Perhaps no dish 
is able to give more epicurean delight than this, if 
well managed. It is just the thing for a night sup- 
per or for a i^chercM breakfast. 

Select as many dozen as you have guests. They 
should be large, and the shells of good shape. Clean 
them Avith a stifl' brush, and open, saving the juice. 



140 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

Throw the oysters into boiling water, and let tb\ a 
remain a minute or two, according to size. Take 
out, and lay at once on one half of the shell, and 
place on a gridiron over a brisk fire. As soor as 
the oyster begins to boil in the shell, season ^vith 
butter, pepper, and a drop of lemon-juice, l ;crve 
hot, on the shell. 



VEGETABLES, AND HOW TO DRESS THEM. 141 



CHAPTEE VII. 

TEGETABLES, Aim HOW TO DRESS THEM. 

The most general division of fruits and vegeta- 
bles is into such as are very perishable, and must 
be eaten after being a day or two gathered ; and 
such aa will keep for a considerable length of time. 
It is impossible to draw a distinction between fruits 
and vegetables in such a way that all articles in- 
cluded under both these uames shall be ranked un- 
der one or the other. Thus, for instance, rhubarb, 
or pie-plant, — is it a fruit or a vegetable ? It may 
be said, in general, that fruits are distinguished 
from vegetables by the circumstance that they con- 
tain hardly any nitrogen or plastic material, while 
vegetables are all more or less rich in nitrogen. 
The most of our common garden and orchard frnits 
are composed of nearly the same constituents, — a 
little woody fibre, more or less sugar, and several 
acids, the most common of which are the malic, the 
citric, and the tartaric. Two or more of these acids 
are found in almost every fruit. The vahie of 
fruits as articles of diet is mainly owing to the pres- 
ence of these acids. The vegetables, on the other 



142 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

hand, are mainly valuable on account of the starch 
and albumen which they contain. 

The following tables, prepared by Prof. L. C. 
Loomis, present in a new light the relative value of 
vegetable and animal diets. 





Starch. 


Sugar, 


Albumen. 


Wheat, 


60 


5 


30 


Rye, 


60 


3 


12 


Corn, 


80 


1 


10 


Potatoes, 


15 





i 


Eice, 


82 









From which it is seen that rice is highest in the 
amount of starch, and lowest in albinnen, while 
wheat, which has a heavy per cent, of starch, is 
first in albumen. 

From the above Ave deduce the following table, 
showing the proportionate weight of the elements 
in 1000 pounds of nutrition. 





Carbon. 


Hydrogen. 


Oxygen. 


Nitrogen, 


Wheat, 


508 


G7 


326 


98 


Eye, 


485 


64 


389 


62 


Corn, 


477 


64 


415 


44 


Potatoes, 


498 


65 


364 


72 


Eice, 


492 


62 


446 


— . 



In which, with the exception of rice, we are struck 
with the remarkable uniformity of the proportions 



TEGETABLES, AND HOAV TO DRESS THEM. 143 

of carbon and hydrogen, — the one being not far 
from 500, the other 65. The proportions of oxygen 
and nitroijen are somewhat more variable. 

If we now analyze the substances that constitute 
the human frame, we may be able to institute a 
comparison between the actual wants of the system 
and the actual supplies offered in the above articles. 

As bone is sIoav of growth and decomposition, 
and therefore correspondingly feeble in its nutritive 
action, we shall omit it, as unimportant to our pres- 
ent investigation. The remainder of the body is 
chiefly composed of muscular fibre and membranous 
tissues. 

Proceeding in the analysis of animal substances, 
as, previously, in vegetable, we find three animal 
proximate elements quite similar to the vegetable, — 
fibrine, albumen, gelatine. Muscle is almost wholly 
fibrine ; tendons and the membranes gelatine. 

The composition of these is as follows : Fibrine 
and albumen are composed each of, — 

40 parts carbon, 12 parts oxygen, 

31 parts hydrogen, 5 parts nitrogen. 

Being the same as vesretable fibrine and albumen. 
Gelatine is composed of, — 

33 parts carbon, 15 parts oxygen, 

30 parts hydrogen, G parts nitrogen. 



144 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

Reducing these proportions to the same basis as 
before, for the purpose of comparison, we have the 
followinof : — Relative weight of elements in 1000 
pounds of animal fibre, — 

Carbon, 549 pounds, Oxygen, 219 pounds, 

Hj'drogen, 70 pounds, Nitrogen, IGO pounds. 

That is, of 1000 pounds of muscle and membrane, 
the chief components of the body, 549 pounds are 
carbon, 70 hydrogen, 219 ox^'^gcn, IGO nitrogen. 

Now, it is evident that if these are component 
parts of the body to this extent, food must supply 
them to this amount, or there can neither be health 
nor strength. Let us make the comparison, — 

Carbon. Hydrogen. Oxygen. Nitrogen 
Animal fibre has 5-19 70 219 IGO 

Wheat has 508 G7 32G 98 



Deficiency or excess, —41 —3 +107 — G2 

From these figures it appears that wheat furnishes 
almost exact supplies of carbon and hydrogen, a 
large surplus of oxygen, but has a marked deficiency 
in nitrogen. Again, — 

Carbon. Hydrogen. Oxygen. Nitrogen. 
Animal fibre has 549 70 219 160 

Rye has 485 G4 389 62 

Deficiency or excess, — 64 — 6 +170 — 98 



VEGETABLES, AND HOW TO DRESS THEM. 145 

Here the deficiencies aud the excess, in eveiy in- 
stance, are greater than before, and therefore rye is 
less able than wheat to satisfy the wants of the s^s- 
tem. Expressing these deficiencies and excesses in 
decimals, we find in wheat a deficiency in carbon of 
only 8 j)er cent. ; in hydrogen of only 4 per cent. ; 
but in nitrogen of 39 per cent. ; of oxygen there is 
a surplus of 50 per cent. In rye the deficiency in 
carbon is 12 per cent., in hydrogen 9 per cent., 
in nitrogen 62 per cent. ; while there is an excess of 
oxygen of 77 per cent. Comparing the others in 
the same manner, we have the following state- 
ment, — 





Carbon. 


Hydrogen. 


Oxygen. 


Kitrogen. 




Deficiency. 


Deficiency. 


Excess. 


Deficiency. 


"Wheat, 


.08 


.04 


.50 


.39 


Eye, 


.12 


.09 


.70 


.61 


Corn, 


.13 


.09 


.89 


.83 


Potatoes, 


.10 


.07 


.6G 


.55 


Kice, 


.11 


.12 


1.0-1 


.00 



This table gives several valuable and practical re- 
sults. 

First. We observe that there is no noticeable 
deficiency in either carbon or hydrogen ; all of 
these vegetables furnishing, nearly, if not quite, the 
requisite amount. 

Second. They all yield a large excess of oxygen. 

13 



14() THE riiiLOSoriiY of iiousk-keeping. 

Third. But all liavc a material deficiency in nitro- 
gen, onl}' one having a supply of even 50 per cent. 

Fourth. As wc arc considering the composition 
of muscle, and consequently the growth of children 
and the strength of the adult, it appears that these 
vegetables are not sufficient for either class. They 
can produce neither material for the one nor strength 
for the other. There can be no muscle nor mem- 
brane without IGO parts of nitrogen in a thousand. 
AVheat furnishes a little more than half that amount, 
potatoes but 45 per cent., rye but 38 per cent., 
corn but 27 per cent., and rice little or none. 

Fifth. As all furnish nearl}' or quite a supply 
of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, it is evident that 
the vegetables having in addition the largest amount 
of nitrogen will possess the greatest nutrient value. 
Thus, for the laborer, wheat is by far tlie most valu- 
able vegetable food ; next to it ranlcs the jiotato, next 
rye, next corn, and last rice. 

• 
A very natural inquiry which follows these con- 
clusions of Prof. Loomis is, ^Vhat additional food 
is needed to be eaten Avith potatoes and other vege- 
tal)les, in order to make a sound and sufficient diet? 
Obviouslj' such food as contains a large amount of 
nitrogen. 

It may here be remarked, that in preparing vege- 



VEGETABLES, AND HOW TO DRESS THEM. 147 

tables for the table, they should not only be eaten 
at the same time with hearty food, but, in order to 
be relished, they should be intimately blended with 
meat, eggs, fish, and similar dishes. In this way 
the flavor of the richer food is imparted to the more 
bulky, and, if the compound is skilfully blended, au 
almost perfect nutriment will be the result. 

THE POTATO. 

This is, on the whole, the most valuable of all 
our vegetables, since in nutritive value it stands 
next to wheat, and surpasses all the grains in the 
amount of nutrition that can be derived from a given 
area. Considerins: how universal is the use of the 
potato in this country, — a large proportion of our 
people deriving their chief sustenance from this 
plant, — Ave have made, as yet, very little advance 
in the cfrt of preparing this esculent for our tables. 
AYe boil and bake potatoes. Beyond this the cook- 
cry of the inost valuable of all roots is unknown. 
We commit, moreover, several cardinal errors in 
boiling i^otatoes. We very frequently find them, 
on American tables, nearly ruined and unpalatable, 
because water-logged ; and the most nutritious part, 
which lies just under the skin, is thrown away in 
peeling. 

If young and tender, take off the surface skin by 



148 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

scrubbing them with a stiff brush ; if old, scrape 
them ■with a bhuit knife. It is never best to let 
them remain in contact with the boiling water ; cer- 
tainly not when they have begun to soften. The 
best way is to place a quart of water in the boiler, 
and cover Avith a strainer, which may be any tin, 
copper, or brass sheet pierced Avith holes. Put 
over a brisk fire, and when the Avater begins to boil, 
put in the potatoes, the largest at the bottom. CoA^er 
tightly, and let the boiling be brisk for half an hour, 
or until the potatoes arc done. If the Avater should 
become evaporated, supply Avith that Avhich is boil- 
ing, not cold. As soon as done, take out into a 
wooden boAA'l, mash fine and smooth Avith a Avoodcn 
potato-masher or pestle, adding salt, pepper, cream, 
or butter, to taste. Place in a dish of proper size, 
smooth the surface with a spoon moistened Avitli 
milk, and cover it Avith an egg Avell beaten. Set it 
into the oven until the egg covering is a little 
browned. 

Sweet Potatoes. — Boil them till done ; then peel, 
and cut in longitudinal slices, and pour npon each 
slice, as you lay it in the sauce-dish, gravy made in 
the folloAving manner : Of sugar and butter take 
one cup each ; add half a cup of hot Avater, and boil 
till it is thick. This sauce is a great improvement 



VEGETABLES, AND HOW TO DRESS THEM. 149 

to the sweet potato, and removes the cliyness of that 
vegetable. 

Fried Potatoes. — Peel, wash, and cut in thin 
slices ; have hot laixl in a stewpan, on a sharp fire ; 
throw in the potatoes, and let them be entirely cov- 
ered with the lard until fried. Arrange neatly on a 
dish, and serve hot, sprinkled with salt. This dish 
is commonly eaten with beefsteak or mutton-chops, 
and, when well prepared, is the most satisfactory 
style in which potatoes can be cooked. 

Democratic Potato Cake. — Mr. Plot's Pecipe. — 
Prepare and cook by steam, a quart and a half of 
potatoes ; peel and mash them ; mix with them the 
yolks of five eggs, half a lemon-rind grated, and four 
ounces of fine white sugar. Put four ounces of but- 
ter in a stewpan, and set it on the fire. When 
melted, put the mixture in, stirring with a wooden 
spoon continually. As soon as it is in the stewpan, 
add the whites of the five eggs, well beaten ; leave 
on the fire only long enough to mix the whole well 
together and take off. When nearly cold, flavor 
with a few drops of orange-flower water. Put in a 
tin mould, and bake in hot oven for about half an 
hour. 

ONIONS. 

How to Cooh Onions. — The onion is, next to the 

13* 



150 THE piiiLOSoniY or house-keeping. 

potato, the most valuable garden vegetable. It 
abounds in nitrogenous matter, and is as good vege- 
table food as a laboring man can eat. Properly 
cooked, it is delicious in taste and easy of digestion. 
But no vegetable is so little understood as the onion. 
That stronij smell comes from a small amount of 
pungent volatile oil, which can easily be expelled, 
and the bull) left as delicate and as little objection- 
able as the potato or the beet. Now, how is this 
rank odor to to be disposed of ? As follows : — 

Select those that are alike in size, and not very 
large. Boil half an hour, and pour ofl' the water. 
The offensive oil has been liberated by the heat, and 
most of it <;oes Avith the water. Now make a dress- 
ing, by adding a lump of butter of the size of au 
egg to a pint of milk ; put in a little chopped j^ars- 
ley and a bit of mace. When it boils, put in the 
onions, and let them stew slowly until done. When 
you take them up, open the top of each and drop in 
a small lump of butter. Eat while warm, and have 
no misgivings about your breath ; for thus dressed 
they are as mild as baked apples and far more nu- 
tritious. 

BEANS. 

How to Cook Beans. — Sort and wash them, and 
cover wdth lukewarm soft water to which a pinch of 



VEiJETABLES, AND IIOAV TO DRESS TIIEM. 151 

soda bus been added. Let tbeni soak, adduig, at 
times, a Httlo bot water, for balf a day. Pour ofl' 
tills water, and fill witb boiling water, allowing them 
to simmer till nearly soft. Place in an eartben bak- 
ing-dish, and in the middle of the beans bury a piece 
of fat salt pork. For a quart of beans a piece as big 
as a cfoose-eirs? is sufficient. 

TOMATOES. 

There is no more wholesome plant cultivated than 
the tomato. It has a direct but mild action upon 
the liver, and aids digestion generally. 

When perfectly ripe, pour scalding water over 
them, peel, cut in slices, and serve with claret wine 
and crushed white sugar. Good cider-vinegar may 
be substituted for claret wine. 

8teif'ed Tomatoes. — Peel and cut up ; put in a 
saucepan ; add a very little water, a little claret 
M'ine or vinegar ; sugar, butter, salt, and pepper, to 
taste. StcAV till done, and thicken with pounded 
cracker or bread-crumbs. 

Tomato Toast. — Cut the tomatoes without peel- 
ing, stew them till done in a little water ; then strain 
through a sieve or colander, and add butter, sugar, 
salt, and milk. When it boils, stir in a little thick- 
ening made of flour or corn-starch. Toast your bread 



152 THE PHILOSOPIIT OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

broAvii on both sides, and cover each slice with a 
portion of the tomato-sauce. Serve hot. 

Fried Tomatoes. — Select those that are fully 
grown but green ; cut them in slices a quarter of an 
inch thick, and lay them in hot butter or hog's fat ; 
sprinkle a little salt over them. When brown on 
one side, turn them and cook the other. The}' will 
be found a pleasant breakfast dish in midsummer. 

Bahed Tomcdoes. — Select sucli as are sound and 
ripe ; pour boiling water over them ; cover, and let 
remain an hour; peel, and lay in the bottom of a 
deep pie-dish ; season with pepper and salt, and 
cover with grated cracker and small lumps of but- 
ter ; put on another layer of tomatoes, and cover as 
before. Bake one hour. 

EGG-PLANT. 

Egg-plant is best when fried. Cut in slices ; sea- 
son with salt and pepj)er ; dip in a batter made of 
grated cracker and ^^^. Fry in butter till quite 
brown. 

TIME or BOILING CERTAIN VEGETABLES. 

Cabbage, two hours. Turnips and parsnips, an 
hour and a half. Carrots, two hours. Beets, from 
three to four hours. Green corn, half an hour. 
Asparagus, twenty minutes. Green peas, from 



VEGETABLES, AND HOW TO DRESS TIIEIVr. 153 

thirty to fifty minutes. String beans, one hour. 
Squashes, one hour. 

THE CEREAL GRAINS AS VEGETABLES. 

By the expression cereal grains, we understand all 
such grains as are commonly ground into flour and 
made into bread or cakes. Of these, the chief is 
wheat, which every difierent mode of analyzing, as 
well as the general consent of the race, has pro- 
nounced the king of vegetables. Very similar to wheat 
in chemical composition, and only a little inferior iu 
nutritive value, we may enumerate as the leading ce- 
reals, rye, corn, barley, oats, buckwheat, and rice. 
Of these the best known, and the most universally 
raised in this country, are corn, oats, and rye, and we 
eat these grains and wheat almost exclusively in the 
form of flour, Avithout thinking that by simply 
crushing the grains of wheat, of corn, or of oats, 
Ave can obtain a vei^retable more nutritious than the 
same weight of flour, equally palatable, and easier 
of digestion. 

Cracked wheat, cracked corn, also called little 
hominy (the Avhole corn being known as big hom- 
iny), and oatmeal, are all cooked in about the same 
way. The water in which they are 'plunged should 
be boiling and never allowed to grow cool. The reason 
of this rule Avill be seen by a little reflection. The 



154 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEKPIXG. 

gastric juices can act only on tho surfaces of objects 
presented to it. Now, if coarsely ground wheat or 
oats is allowed to soak, even for a few minutes, in 
tepid water, the whole becomes pasty, and no 
amount of boiling or baking can ever overcome this 
difficulty. Taken into the stomach, thus badly 
cooked, it is unpalatable in the eating, and remains 
two or more hours longer than there is any need of 
in the stomach. 

To Coolc Cracked Wlieat, Oatmeal, and Hominy. 
— Let the meal be dry and a little warm. Have 
two or three quarts of water boiling briskly. Throw 
into it a lump of butter of the size of a butternut, 
and a small handful of salt ; add the meal by little 
handfuls, sifting it over the face of the water, and 
stirring constantly. After it is thick enough, it 
may stand for hours over a slow fire. The longer 
corn thus stews, after the first brisk boiling, the 
better it is. Coarse hominy should stew half a day. 
Finely ground Indian meal should not be kept on 
the fire so long, and half an hour of boiling heat is 
all that is necessary for wheat and oatmeal. Cracked 
wheat is an excellent breakfast and supper dish, 
eaten warm with butter and sugar. 

Oatmeal mush is best in milk. Samp or hominy 
can be eaten in milk, with cream and sugar, with 
molasses only, or, when cold, cut in slices, and fried 



VEGETABLES, AND HOW TO DRESS THEM. 155 

ill hot Lircl or butter, and eaten with butter and 
syrup. 

It is a little remarkable that a grain so valuable 
and easily produced as the oat, should, in this coun- 
try, have been abandoned altogether to the horses. 

Boussingault and Xorton, both thorough chemists, 
have found the oat superior to wheat in strength- 
giving power. Horsford, in dried oatmeal found 
over twenty per cent, of proteine, that is, of muscle- 
making constituents. 

And we know from the hardihood, the physical 
and mental vigor of the Scotch and Irish, with 
great numbers of whom oatmeal is the standard 
dish in childhood, and from its Avell-known value 
as food for hard-worked horses, that the excellence 
of this cereal has been overlooked by our country- 
men, as it will not be in the future. 

Rice is very little esteemed in this country as an 
article of food. It is digested with great ease, and 
properly dressed and combined is palatable. But 
rice is, according to numerous analyses, and l>y the 
uniform testimony of all who have eaten it, the least 
nutritious of the grains we consume. 

It is almost pure starch, with no proteine or mus- 
cle-making constituents, or so small as to require 
the swallowing of enormous quantities of it to give 
strength enousrh to labor. 



15G THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

Rice is iisotul !is an absorbent of oils, and for giv- 
ing the reqnisitc dilntion and meclianical separation 
to rich and concentrated foods. Hence it is well to 
cat it with fat roast beef, with eggs and sngar, in 
the form of rice pndding, and blended with rich 
meats in the form of rice cnrry. 

To Boil Rice. — Throw it into boiling water, and, 
as soon as done, drain out the moisture, and let it 
stand near a hot lire till quite dr^'. 



BREAD. 157 



CHAPTER VIII. 



BREAD. 



The accomplishment of bread-making is a funda- 
mental virtue in a good housewife. Like truth- 
telling among the social traits, like the rose among 
flowers, like corn among the useful plants, the art 
of making perfect bread, and keeping her table con- 
stantly supplied with this stafl" of life, outweighs 
every other domestic merit, and outshines all the 
sisterhood of housewifely graces. 

Experience, as well as chemical analysis, shows 
that bread made of wheaten flour is more perfectly 
adapted than any other single article of diet to meet 
the demands of adult life. It is, indeed, for the 
man, when well compounded and thoroughly baked, 
what milk is to the infant ; we might almost say, 
what grass is to the ox. 

It is a remarkable fact, that those climates which 
are adapted to the development of the finest races 
of men are also abundant producers of wheat. 

The hopeless and stationary millions of Asia are 
rice-consumers ; while Europe, with her restless 
blood, her active, analytical brain, and her world- 
u 



158 THE rillLOSOPIIY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

"wide commerce, relies upon wheat as her great sta- 
ple of food. 

The wisest of our geographical WTiters has re- 
marked it as a iniiversal distinction between semi- 
civilized and fully civilized nations, that the 
former eat boiled rice, while the latter feed on wheat 
bread. 

As the greater portion of our American States are 
peculiarly adapted to the growth of the best quality 
of wheat, may we not, from this fact alone, infer 
that they are designed by Providence as the home 
of a race presenting the highest type of manhood, 
and the noblest results of civilization? If, then, 
wheat is so regal and typical among all the plants 
to which man looks for food, wheat bread must oc- 
cupy a position among all the articles of diet, of 
corresponding dignity and importance. As woman 
is the great civilizer, perhaps in no one part of her 
realm does she possess a more effective influence for 
good, than in keeping her family supplied with the 
best quality of bread. 

The crudest form of bread is a simple mixture of 
flour and water, worked to a stiff paste, spread thin, 
and baked hard. Under the name of navy-bread or 
hard-tack, this constitutes the nutritious but homel}- 
fare of the sailor and the soldier. Between this 
rude, though cftcctive means of sustaining life, and 



BREAD. 159 

the light, sweet, fragrant, and delicious loaf, resting 
beneath the snowy napkin, beside the ball of golden 
butter, around which the family gather at their 
evening meal, there is a contrast as wide as between 
the roughness and hardships of the camp and the 
forecastle, and the sancity, the purity, the taste, and 
the rest of home. 

The difference between these two compositions of 
wheat flour is not mechanical merely. In the per- 
fect bread, there are mingled with the flour those 
elements which will develop from it all its most 
nutritious and palatable qualities. In other words, 
the efiect of leaven or yeast is to convert the gluti- 
nous mass of wet flour into a porous, spongy substance, 
in which starch, sugar, carbonic acid gas, and alco- 
hol are in process of development. The skill of 
the domestic baker consists in mins^lins; these ele- 
ments in just proportions, and in arresting the 
process of fermentation, at precisely the right mo- 
ment, by the heat of her oven. No domestic art 
requires the exercise of more judgment, or requires 
it more constantly. There is no such thing as pre- 
scribinoj an infallible rule for makins: bread, for 
success depends upon at least four variable elements, 
which cannot be embraced under any one formula. 
These are the quality of the flour, the strength of 
the yeast, moisture, and heat. 



160 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

It seldom happens that two successive barrels or 
bags of flour, brought into the family store-room, 
will bear the same treatment. Wheat raised on 
different soils is composed of varying constituents. 
The amount of gluten or adhesive matter is much 
greater in some Avheat than in others. Where the 
proportion of this element is large, a sweeter and 
more nutritious, but not so snow}' -white an article 
of bread can be made from it. The flour made 
from such wheat is of a pale cream color, and, for 
making into light bread, requires a longer time in 
fermentation, and should remain a little longer in 
the oven. 

In judging of flour, if, upon opening the barrel or 
sack, the color is, as above described, not perfectly 
white, but of a very pale straw or cream color, and a 
little of it when compressed in the hand retains the 
stamp of the fingers, and does not fall immediately 
apart, you have a sweet and nutritious article. If it 
also passes the tests of smell and taste, you may, 
with application of proper skill, be sure of good 
bread. 

Bread-making, chemically considered, consists in 
evolving, l)y fermentation, from the constituents of 
flour, and distributing uniformly through the mass 
carbonic acid gas, and then arresting fermentation 
at precisely the right point. It is this gas which 



BllEAD. 161 

has given good bread the spongy appearance which 
always characterizes it. 

This is done by incorporating witli moistened flour 
a certain amount of yeast. According to Mitsclier- 
lich, a German chemist, wlio brought the science of 
the laboratory to the investigation of culinary art, 
flour made from fresh, sound wheat contains no 
sugar. By the addition of ferment, — hop yeast 
being generally used, — this is further increased at 
the expense of the starch in the process of fermenta- 
tion ; and the grape-sugar thus produced is con- 
verted into alcohol and carbonic acid. It is on ac- 
count of this chemical change of a part of the gluten 
into su2:ar that dough which has been mixed two or 
three hours is observed to be sweeter to the taste 
and less sticky to the touch. The carbonic acid 
gas formed everywhere throughout the mixture is 
entangled and retained by the tenacious gluten ; 
and the dou«:h is thus rendered lis^ht and cellular. 
When submitted, in an oven, to a baking heat, the 
outer surface becomes roasted, assuming a brown 
color ; the alcohol developed in fermentation is 
driven off" ; f., part of the water evaporates ; the 
starch, a principal constituent of gluten, is rendered 
more sohible, and, in short, by the continued appli- 
cation of heat, all the elements in the flour arc made 
palatable and easy of digestion. 
U* 



162 THE PIIILOSOniY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

The process of fenneiitation is induced. by various 
kinds of yeast. That most iu use is brcAver's or 
hop yeast, which is at once the most certain in its 
operation and the most effective, while at tlie same 
time it contains notliing deleterious. It is made by 
boiling a handful of hops in two quarts of water, 
with six or eight peeled Irish potatoes. When they 
arc soft, mash the whole ; pour the mixture, while 
hot, uj^on two quarts of sifted wheat flour. Add 
a cup of brown sugar, and two tablesi^oonfuls of salt. 
When nearly cool, add a pint of brewer's yeast or 
yeast made from cakes. ]Mix thoroughly. When 
it is well risen, thicken with either corn meal or 
■wheat flour to a very stiff paste ; cut into cakes two 
inches square, and dry by the fire or an open win- 
dow, but not in the hot sun. Put away in an earthen 
jar, in a cool place, and keep well covered. 

A few hours before you Avish to make bread, dis- 
solve one of these cakes in half a pint of water ; stir 
in flour till it becomes a thick batter ; put in a warm 
place till it rises. Now sift about three quarts of 
flour into a bread-bowl, pour in the yeast, add two 
tablespoonfuls of salt, and suflicient Avarm milk or 
warm water to make a stiff dough. Set in a Avarm 
place. In about three hours it may be exj^ected to be 
liffht enouo^h for Avorkins^ over. If no sic^ns of fermen- 
tation appear, a longer time must be allowed it. When 



BREAD. 163 

well risen, knead thoroughly, and put into baking- 
pans, setting them in a warm place. In from half to 
three-quarters of an hour they are ready for the oven, 
where they should remain an hour, more or less, ac- 
cording to the size of the loaves. 

If, when the bread is ready to be worked over, it 
should be acid in any degree, sufficient saleratus or 
soda should be dissolved and added to correct the 
acidity. If the oven is not hot enough to arrest the 
process of fermentation, the bread will sour after 
being placed in the oven ; if it is too hot, the crust 
formed over the surface of the loaf will impede the 
escape of the various gases evolved and liberated 
in the process of baking, and prevent the bread from 
having as much lightness and sweetness as it other- 
wise would possess. Experience alone can instruct 
the housewife fully, in this as well as in other de- 
partments of the bread-making art. Judgment and 
skill must be employed, at every step, to secure the 
most perfect results. 

In cool weather, yeast prepared as above, Avithout 
being thickened, may be kept in a tightly corked 
bottle or jug, in the cellar, when it is ready for im- 
mediate use ; or potato yeast may be used as a sub- 
stitute for hops. Bread made from this kind of 
yeast is Avhiter and moister than that made from 
hops, and it rises more readily. In summer, it is 



164 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

not recommended, on account of its liability to ^^.^r. 
It is prepared in the following manner : — Boil f .iiree 
or four Irish potatoes till soft ; then peel an(l mash 
them fine, and mix thoroughly with them a p nt of 
sifted flour ; pour upon the whole a quart of boiling 
water ; when cool, add two tablespoonfuls of salt, 
half a cup of sugar, and a cup of yeast or a piece of 
raised dough dissolved in a cup of water. "When 
well fermented, pour into a bottle, and set in a cool 
place. A cupful will raise three or four loaves of 
bread. 

Perhaps no bread, is more suited to the digestion 
of invalids and young children than that made from 
milk yeast, or, as it is frequently called, salt-rising. 
It requires, however, more skill and more time than 
the two varieties above described, but when per- 
fectly made is superior to them both, and is a very 
pleasant change for an appetite that craves variety. 
To make the yeast, put in a perfectly clean and 
sweet earthen pot a pint of new milk; pour upon 
this a pint of boiling water ; stir in a tablespoonful 
of salt ; add flour imtil it is a thick batter ; cover the 
pot with a saucer or plate, and set it where it Avill 
retain the same temperature that it has after the 
flour is stirred in, for six hours, when, if all the 
conditions are complied with, it will begin to rise. 
Have flour ready to make three good-sized loaves, 



BREAD. 165 

and wheu the yeast is riseu pour it into the flour, 
and add warm milk or water sufficient to moisten 
the flour. Knead but a short time ; place the loaves 
in pans, and set them by the Are, to rise. When 
risen, put in an oven, not too hot, and bake till 
done. 

In this kind of yeast, the three processes of fer- 
mentation — the saccharine, the vinous, and acetous 
— may be very perfectly and distinctly traced. 
When the yeast has set for two or three hours, 
little bubbles of air appear around the sides of the 
pot, and the batter has a perceptibly sweet taste. 
This is the first stage. As the fermentation ad- 
vances, the taste resembles that of cider a day or 
two old, and the yeast begins to rise. Now it has 
reached the second stage, or vinous fermentation. 
Xf not arrested here, it will soon become sour, or 
pass into the third or acetous fermentation. The 
skill of the baker is exercised in seizing the precise 
moment — before the vinous fermentation ceases, 
and the acetous begins — to compound his loaves. 
Though the acidity of the bread may be neutralized 
by soda, it cannot pass the vinous fermentation 
without losing some of its nutritive qualities. If he 
does not wait long enough, fermentation will not be 
sufficiently advanced, and heavy bread will be the 
woful result ; if he waits too long, it will be sour, 



166 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

and soda 'will be needed. What skill, what judg- 
ment, what experience, is required to make a loaf 
of perfect bread ! 

When hop yeast, salt-rising, or potato yeast is 
used, the product may very properly be called nat- 
ural bread. When jiroperly made, it contains no 
substances that may not assimilate kindly and per- 
fectly with the blood, without detriment to the coats 
or liquids of any part of the digestive tract. The 
adulterations of baker's bread are often affected by 
the use of substances that are in the hii^hest de^rree 
deleterious. 

The flour used by bakers is seldom of the best 
quality, and, if made into bread in the manner above 
described, would produce an article less white than 
is demanded by most consumers. To remedy this 
defect, alum is the chemical most in use ; yet few 
substances that could be mixed wnth food are more 
thoroughly noxious. The leading property of alum 
is its power of retaining substances with which it is 
combined in an unchan<?ed state. Bread containino: 
it cannot be operated on by the liquids of the stom- 
ach, and is likely to remain undigested. 

Another difference between baker's and home- 
made bread is, that the former is more meaijre and 
innutritious in its constituents. jMilk and lard are 
generally used in making domestic bread, Avhile 



BEEAD. 167 

baker's is simply flour, water, aud salt, "with 3'east 
to produce fermentation. A larger proportion of 
yeast is used by bakers, the effect of which is a 
dry, spongy bread, comparatively tasteless and in- 
nutritious, and often adulterated by substances in 
the last degree unsnited to the human stomach. 
Though wheat bread constitutes by far the greater 
portion of all our vegetable food, yet other grains 
are very largely consumed in the form of bread, es- 
pecially by those who raise their own cereals. 

Much discussion has also arisen of late years, 
among writers on health, as to what part of the 
coarser products of ground wheat ought to be ex- 
cluded from bread. 

Dr. Sjdvester Graham, in his well-known writings 
on hygiene, was a strenuous advocate of using every 
part of the crushed kernel or unbolted wheat meal 
instead of flour, and bread thus made is quite gen- 
erally known as Graham bread. Whether his views 
arc entitled to general acceptance or otherwise, this 
has been found true, that bread made of unbolted 
wheat is better for all persons of dj^speptic habit. 
The reason seems to be, that while the particles of 
bran contain little that is nutritious, they hold apart 
the glutinous portions by j^resenting a larger surface 
to the attack of the digestive fluids, and thus pro- 
mote active and easy assimilation. 



168 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

To nialvc Graham bread palatable, more must 
be added than is required by common Avbcat flour. 
To two quarts of unbolted flour add a gill of 3-east, 
a gill of molasses, half a gill of lard, a teaspoonful 
of salt, and warm milk enough to make a dough not 
very stiff". When well risen, work over, and bake 
as common wheat bread. On account of its coarse 
and porous texture, it becomes dry and unpalatable 
sooner than bread made of bolted flour, and, to be 
enjoyed, should be eaten soon after it is cool. 

Bread made from rye flour ranks next in excel- 
lence to that made from Avheat. The manner of 
mixing the ingredients is the same as with wheat 
bread, except that more liquid is used in proportion 
to the amount of flour, and it is put into the pans 
without being kneaded. It is quite common to add 
a small handful of caraway seed to the dough of 
ryo bread, and, for most palates, bi-ead thus spiced 
is considerably improved. 

The upper crust of rye bread is made much firmer 
and more palatable by moistening the surface with 
milk just before putting the loaf into the oven. A 
variety of bread quite common in the Eastern States, 
and, when well made, surpassed by none for its pal- 
atable and nutritive qualities, is a combination of 
rye meal and corn meal, called rye-and-indian, or 
Boston brown bread. For persons of sedentary 



BREAD. 169 

habits and a dyspeptic turn, no food is more Avhole- 
some, yet it is by no means easy to produce this 
article in perfection. 

Of unbolted rye meal sift one quart, of unbolted 
corn meal three pints ; to the corn meal add, say, a 
tablespoonful of salt and half a pint of molasses. 
Pour upon this, boiling milk or boiling Avater, till 
the corn meal is thoroughly scalded. Now add cold 
sour milk or butter-milk with your rye meal, and 
soda enough to correct the acid in the milk and in 
the molasses. If you have stewed pumpkin or 
mashed Irish potatoes, a half pint added will im- 
prove the flavor of the bread. ]\Iix all the ingredi- 
ents thoroughly with the hand. It needs no time 
to rise. Bake in a hot oven for two or three hours. 
This will make a large loaf; and it is better to put 
it into one pan than to divide the dough. A very 
thick and hard, tough, and palatable crust is formed, 
which some find their teeth stronsr enou<2;h to masti- 
cate. A mode of cooking, preferred by some, is by 
steaming in an ordinary pudding-pan, with a tube 
running up through the middle, after the manner of 
a cake-pan. Put the dough into such a dish, cover 
lightly, and place in a kettle of boiling water, Avhere 
it should remain and boil constantly for four hours. 
As the water evaporates, supply from a boiling tea- 
kettle. Cooked in this way, no crust is formed, 
15 



170 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

and the bread has a delicious flavor, and remains 
moist for a number of days. "When a day or two 
old, it is improved by warming in an oven before be- 
ing brought to the table. Successfully compounded, 
there is no danger that this article will grow stale 
upon the hands of a house-keeper. It makes the 
heartiest bread that is eaten, and is at the same time 
remarkably easy of digestion. 

The varieties of bread above described are 
mostly eaten when a day or more old. Where close 
attention is paid to the rules of health, bread will 
invariably be eaten cold or stale, — never when fresh 
from the oven. The reason of this is, that mastica- 
tion of hot bread reduces it to a tenacious, gummy 
mass, that is with difficulty dissolved by the gastric 
fluids. As the taste for hot food, and especially for 
warm biscuit, hot rolls, buns, hot corn bread, waffles, 
and batter cakes, is almost universal among the 
Americans, instructions are given for preparing 
these dishes, a protest being at the same time 
made against this wide-spread and unwholesome 
practice. 

It should, however, be remarked, that grains 
which contain a moderate proportion of gluten may 
be eaten in some form of bread while hot, Avith less 
injury than such as contain it in larger proportion. 
Thus, dishes made up principally of corn meal, rice, 



BBEAD. 171 

barley, or buckwheat may be taken moderately hot 
with little mischief to the stomach. 

Johnny Cake. — Hub two tablespoonfuls of butter 
into a quart of corn meal. Add a small teacup of 
molasses to a teaspoonful of brown ginger, pour on 
slowly sufficient water or milk to make a moderately 
soft dough. Bake in small, shallow pans in a hot 
oven. 

T!igg Bread. — Three quarts of milk, a little sour, 
seven eggs, two ounces of butter (a lump of the 
size of an ^^^ weighs about two ounces) , a tea- 
spoonful of saleratus ; add corn meal to make stiff 
batter. Bake by a brisk fix'e. For a smaller quan- 
tity, rub a piece of butter of the size of an ^^^ into 
a pint of corn meal, add two eggs, a spoonful of 
yeast, and milk enough to make batter. Let it rise 
in pans by the fire, for an hour. Bake in shallow 
pans by a brisk fire. 

Corn Batter-Bread. — Six tabic spoonfuls of flour, 
three of corn meal ; add a little salt ; make it a thin 
batter, with four cirirs and enough milk. Bake in 
small pans in a hot oven. 

Breakfast Corn Cakes. — Three teacups of corn 
meal, one cup of Avheat flour, two of millc, one of 
cream (or a tablespoonful of butter) , one a^^^ and 
a teaspoonful of salt. Bake in small pans with 
brisk heat. 



172 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

Missouri Com Cakes. — Sift three pints of corn 
meal into a pan ; add a teaspoonful of salt, a table- 
spoonful of lard or the drippings of roast beef, a 
teaspoonful of soda in a little "warm water. ]\Iake 
to a soft dough with a pint of milk or cold water ; 
then add gradually more than a pint of hot water. 
Beat for half an hour. Bake on a hot griddle, and 
eat with butter. 



VEGETABLE FOOD AND FRUIT. 173 

CHAPTER IX. 

PRESERVATION OF VEGETABLE FOOD AND FRUIT. 

The chief distinction in the garden vegetables 
mostly used by us depends not so much upon their 
flavor or their nutritive value, as upon the rapidity 
with which they decay. In other words, the most 
useful plants we have are those whose fruit can 
grace the table for nearly twelve months of the 
year. This is true of the potato, the onion, and 
the bean. Among the fruits, we have none that 
will compare with the apple in the length of time 
for which it may be kept. The potato, the onion, 
the cabbage, and the turnip will keep during the 
winter with only a slight falling off of their flavor 
and their nutritive value ; but, in spring, the gcr- 
minative principle is irrepressible, and they undergo 
a chansre Avhich unfits them to be used as food. 

In the case of the potato, this germinating change 
may be arrested in the following manner : — Select 
potatoes that are of excellent quality and about 
uniform in size, put them in a coarse bag, and throw 
them into a caldron of scalding water ; they should 
not remain more than about ten minutes. There 
should be a good deal more water than enough to 
16* 



174 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

cover the potatoes, so that the temperature may not 
be very much reduced by the introduction of so 
many cold potatoes. The scalding should last long 
enough to destroy the germinating principle in the 
eye of the tuber, but must not be continued so as 
to cause the skin to peel. They should be dried 
and thoroughly cooled before being stored, and then 
laid away in boxes or bins ; sawdust, chaff, fine 
shavings, or oats being sprinkled between successive 
layers. The reason of this precaution is to exclude 
most of the air, and prevent those in the bottom of 
the receptacle from being pressed and bruised by 
the Aveight of those above. This preserving process 
may take place in the fall, when they are stored foi 
winter use. When they are not subjected to some 
such treatment, the starch of potatoes is very much 
injured during the latter part of the season, so that 
a tuber, if kept till May, is not worth more than 
half as nmch for food as though it had been brought 
to the table in October. 

The preservation of winter apples depends upon 
the natural faciHty with Avhich they may be kept, 
mider almost any circumstances, and also upon the 
care that is exercised in gathering them. The rus- 
set, for instance, and the Ehode Island greening are 
very slow ripeners ; that is, the pulp does not be- 
come brittle and melloAV for several months after the 



VEGETABLE FOOD AND FRUIT. 175 

apple leaves the tree. Certain species of winter 
apples are said not to keep well ; that is, they ripen 
in the early whiter, and, like all juicy fruits, pass 
from perfection to decay. Other species ripen more 
slowly, and are not perfect till midwinter, while a 
few, like the russet, are unripe till spring. But at 
some time, each variety reaches its perfection, and 
at that time, and that only, are its qualities alto- 
gether beneficial. Before that time it is more or 
less noxious, and, after the period of absolute ripe- 
ness, decay sets in. Therefore, in raising or in 
purchasing winter apples, it is desirable to have on 
hand several varieties, all of which ripen or come 
to their greatest perfection in different months. 
The pippin, the greening, and the seek- no-further 
become mellow and afford the finest flavor in Janu- 
ary and February. The russet, during the early 
part of the winter, is tough and pithy, but in early 
spring becomes fully ripe and agreeable in flavor. 
Some winter apples, and these are the best, are very 
good when a little unripe, and hence, not only keep 
a long time, but are good during almost the whole 
time they are kept. Such, for instance, is the New- 
town pippin, than which there is no better apple. 
When exported to Europe, it has been pronounced 
superior to all varieties, native or foreign : a juicy, 
crisp, fine-flavored, delicious fruit, that is in the 



176 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

greatest perfection in January, but, when carefully 
gathered and Avell stored, may grace the talkie in 
May. 

The Baldwin is the best of New England apples, 
but degenerates or fails in the Middle States, and at 
the South becomes a summer fruit. The jNIassa- 
chusetts Baldwin is strictly a winter fruit, becoming 
mellow in Xovcmbcr and lasting till March, when 
well cared for. 

In gathering and storing choice winter fruit, too 
much care cannot be used. The skin of the apple 
and pear is all that protect them from the air. This 
jDrotection is thin, and in all cases easily broken, 
but so firm and smooth, that, as long as it remains 
entire, the apple will decay only by becoming over- 
ripe. The same care that keeps one pippin, or 
Belle-fleur, or Belmont, or Spitzenberg till March, 
will keep all jjerfect specimens of the same fruit. 

In gathering such apples, they should never bo 
shaken from the tree upon the hard ground, but 
picked by hand, and laid gently in a broad, shallow 
basket, so those at the bottom will not be com- 
pressed by the weight of tliose above. They should 
then be laid out upon tlic floor of a chamber or loft, 
or on wide shelves, and there remain till freezing 
weather. Then pack them in barrels or boxes, ia 



VEGETABLE FOOD AXD FRUIT. 177 

layers, with sawdust, tan-bark, chaff, or straw cut 
fine, and keep them in a cool, dry cellar. 

The grape needs no praises or recommendations 
from this or any other pen. Both the whole fruit 
and the juice have been, from the days of Noah 
until now, prized by all civilized nations, and hon- 
ored as the symbol of joy, abundance, health, and 
mirth. "When the Hebrew spies went up from the 
parched and thirsty desert wherein they had so long 
wandered, they could bring back to their expectant 
brethren no more perfect assurance that the prom- 
ised Canaan was, indeed, a goodly land, than the 
great cluster from its vines. "They came unto the 
brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a brancli 
with one cluster of grapes, and the}^ bare it between 
two, upon a staff. And they said, Surely the land 
floweth with milk and honey ; and this is the fruit 
of it." 

Grapes have the same acid as apples, the malic, 
and in addition, tartartic acid and the bitartarate of 
potash. The potash required in the system is never 
presented in a form more agreeable or more easily 
assimilated than when taken in the grape. 

The preservation of grapes requires nearly the 
same care as that bestowed on apples. Pluck the 
clusters carefully, remove those that are green or 
bitten by insects, or blasted, and tie them to a pole 



178 THE PHILOSOPHY OF IlOUSE-KEKl'IXG. 

about ten feet long, and so firm as not to bend much 
under the weight. Saplhigs a little smaller than 
bean-poles, will answer the purpose. Hang these 
poles with the clusters suspended in a loft or cham- 
ber where there is free circulation, and there let 
them remain till freezing weather, looking over them 
occasionalh', and removing any that hiive begun to 
decay. Then pack in dry sawdust in shallow boxes, 
and keep in a cool, dry cellar. The French often 
keep them a number of months by dipping in a 
thick whitewash, which, on drying, covers stem and 
fruit with a thin, white crust, and excludes the 
air. 

There are three w\ays or methods by which fruits 
are preserved : by expelling the air, by desiccation, 
or drying out the greater part of the moisture, and 
by combination with sugar. 

By the first method, all our canned fruits and 
Vegetables are prepared, and by the last, our "pre- 
serves," jellies, and sweetmeats. 

To Can Peaches. — Select ripe and sound fruit; 
peel, and if you wish, cut in halves, and take out 
the stones. To make your syrup, take in the pro- 
portion of a half a pound of sugar to one pint of 
water. AVhen all the scum has been removed, place 
the fruit in the syrup gently, and boil five minutes, 
or until it is well scalded through. Then, with a 



VEGETABLE FOOD AND FKUIT. 179 

skimmer with holes in it, remove the fruit to cans 
set in liot water. Put more fruit in, and continue 
in this way until your cans are filled. Then pour 
the scalding syrup over the fruit, till the cans are 
full, bring the water to the boiling-point, and seal 
the cans. A very good sealing-wax, for this pur- 
pose, is made by melting two parts of resin and one 
of beeswax, together. 

To Can Strawberries. — Prepare the syrup as for 
peaches, scald the strawberries in the syrup, remove 
them to the cans, cover with scalding syrup, boil 
the water around them, and seal up. Cherries, 
tomatoes, apricots, pears, and plums may be put up 
in the same way as peaches and strawberries. 

Glass cans or jars are far preferable to tin, and 
have almost superseded them. Any glass jar is a 
good one that entirely excludes the air and is easily 
sealed and easily opened. The best I have ever 
seen, have india-rubber covers, and are sealed up 
tight by simply turning a screw in the cover. 

A recent mode of canning fruit is to place it in 
warm Avater simply, raise the water to the boiling- 
point, and seal the jar or can ; but the author has 
not tested it. "When used, sugar is to be added. 
By this method, it is said tlic flavor of the fruit 
is very perfectly preserved. 



180 THE riiii.osornr of house-keeping. 



RULES FOR PRESERVIXG. • 

A porcelain kettle is the best for preserving. A 
brass ksttle will answer ; but it must be thoroughly 
scoured every time it is used, and preserves must 
not be allowed to cool in it. 

White sug«r is cheaper than brown for this pur- 
pose. To clarify sugar, mix Avith one quart of water 
the white of one egg, and stir it into four pounds 
of sugar. Have a hair sieve with a piece of muslin 
laid in it to drain the scum through. Thus, you 
will save all the syrup. 

In preserving fruit Mhole, first boil it in a thin 
syrup, or it will shrink very much. 

A wooden or silver spoon must always be used in 
making preserves. A pound of sugar to a pound 
of fruit is the general rule for making preserves. 
Jars should be of brown stone or of white wedsfe- 
wood ware, and after the preserves are placed in them 
they must not be moved until cold. Then they 
must be covered with pieces of white paper cut to 
fit them nicely, and dipped in brandy or rum. 

When they begin to ferment, the syrup should 
be poured into the porcelain kettle, scalded or boiled 
till thick, and again poured over the fruit placed in 
clean jars. They must then be stored in a clean, 
dry place. 



VEGETABLE FOOD AND FRUIT. 181 

A little powdered tilum dissolved and put into the 
syrup will sometimes prevent their candying. 

Peaches. — Allow of sugar, pound for pound, put 
the peaches into the preserving-pan, and cover with 
scalding water, and boil ten minutes. Take them 
out carefully, and, when cool, rub off the skin with 
your fingers. Take the sugar, and pour into it a 
little of the water the peaches were boiled in, and 
boil it till it becomes a syrup. In this, stew the 
peaches, a few at a time, till all are done. Put 
them in a jar, boil down the syrup, and pour it hot 
over them. A few peach kernels boiled with the 
syrup improve its flavor. 

JBrandy PeacJies. — Prepare them as above, ex- 
cept the sugar ; allow three-quarters of a pound 
of sugar to a pound of fruit. When they are done, 
allow a quart of brandy to a quart of syrup. Lay 
the peaches, while hot, into the brandy, and when 
cool, take them out of the brandy, and put them 
into the jar; then strain the syrup hot into the 
brandy, and pour it upon the peaches. 

Quinces. — Peel and core the quinces. Put the 
peelings and cores into just water enough to cover 
them, and simmer an hour and a half. Strain, and 
return the water to the kettle, in which, after weigh- 
ing the quinces, and allowing of sugar, pound for 
pound, place as many as the water will cover, and 
16 



182 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

stew them until soft ; take them out upon a flat dish, 
put in more quinces, and so continue till all are 
stewed. Then add the sugar, and boil till it is a 
syrup. Into this place as many quinces as the 
syrup will cover, and boil half an hour. Take out, 
and put in others till all are done. Then boil the 
syrup down thick, and, when the quinces are cool, 
put them into jars, and strain the sj'rup over them 
through a fine sieve or coarse cloth. 

Quince Jelly. — Take a pint of the water in which 
the quinces have been boiled, as above described, 
add a pound of sugar, boil about twenty-five min- 
utes, and strain it into moulds. 

Quince Marmalade — may be made by mashing 
some of the quinces before putting them in the 
syrup, allowing pound for pound of sugar. Boil 
them together until well softened, strain throuo^h a 
coarse sieve, and put in small jars. 

Crab-Apples — are preserved, jellied, or made 
hito marmalade, in the same manner as quinces. 

Plwns. — Allow a pound of sugar to a pound of 
fruit. Make the sugar into a syrup, with as little 
water as possible, and when it boils, put in the 
plums, and stew them till tender, and then lay them 
on a dish to cool. When cool, lay them in a jar, 
and proceed in this manner till they are all in the 



VEGETABLE FOOD AND FRUIT. 183 

jar ; then pour the boiling syrup over them after 
havinor boiled it down till it is thick. 

Cherries — are preserved in the same manner as 
plums. The stones may be removed, or not, ac- 
cordin2: to taste. 

Raspberry Jam. — Allow a pound of sugar to a 
pomid of fruit. Put them into a kettle together, 
and boil gently, stirring frequently till they are 
thick enongh ; an hour may suiEce. Let it be put 
in jars two or three days, and, if the syrup rises to 
the top, put it back into the kettle, and boil half an 
hour. 

Blackberry Jam — is made in the same way as 
raspberry jam. 

Currant Jelly (1). — Mash fully ripe currants, and 
strain through a flannel bag. To a pint of juice add 
a pound of sugar. Boil twenty minutes, or until a 
teaspoon dipped in the jelly and plunged into cold 
water shows that the jelly is done. 

Currant Jelly (2). — Put the currants into an 
earthen jar, and iDlace the jar in a kettle of cold wa- 
ter, over the fire. Let the water boil till the cur- 
rants look white, then strain them and proceed as 
above. 

JSlackbeiry Jelly. — Mash the berries, pass them 
through a sieve, allow pound for pound of sugar, 
and boil to a jelly. 



184 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

Raspberry Jelly — is made in the same manner as 
blackberry. 

Grape Jelly. — Green grapes, picked just before 
they begin to turn, make tlic handsomest jelly. 
Stew them in water enough to cover them, mash, 
and strain through the jelly-bag, add pound for 
pound of sugar, and boil down to a jelly. 

Pears — are preserved in the same way as peaches. 

Straivherries. — Make the syrup with as little 
water as possible, allowiug a pound of sugar to a 
pound of fruit. Put in as many strawberries as you 
can without crowding, and proceed as with peaches 
and quinces. You may let the strawberries lie in 
the sugar over night, then drain ofl' the syrup, 
and proceed as above. 

A.pples — 'are preserved like quinces. 

PICKLES. 

These preparations are not open to the objections 
that are commonly made to them on the ground of 
health. In moderate quantities, and in connection 
with other food, pickles are noi injurious. They 
are like salads, a kind of extemporized or manu- 
factured fruit, formed by taking some vegetable of 
very loose cellular structure, as the cucumber, and 
substituting vinegar for the water with which the 
cells were orisfinally filled. 



VEGETABLE FOOD AND FRUIT. 185 

The acids and salts of the cucumber, melon, bean- 
pod, or tomato, are not entirely expelled, but form 
a combination with the vinegar, which is much more 
aofreeable and easier to assimilate than the vinearar 
alone. 

Ciicumbet'S (^1). — Pick small cucumbers, and 
leave the stems on. Wipe them clean, and place in 
stone jars and firkins. Pour upon them scalding 
brine, made by boiling one quart of coarse salt with 
two gallons of water. Cover them tight, and let 
them stand twenty-four hours. Then drain them, 
and, having placed them in clean jars, pour on them 
as much boiling vinegar, in which alum (in the pro- 
portion of half an ounce to a gallon) has been dis- 
solved, as will cover them. Pat cabbage leaves 
over them, and cover tight. In two days they will 
be ready for use. 

Beans, onions, and some other vegetables may be 
pickled in the same way. 

Cucumbers (2). — Peel and cut up the cucumbers, 
as for the table when eaten green, put them in coLi 
brine, made as above, and let them stay twenty- 
four hours. Then drain them, and pour vinegar 
enough over them to cover them, and let them stand 
two weeks. Then pour oif the vinegar, and add 
fresh vinegar, after having mixed with the pickles, 
in the proportion of one ounce to a quart of vinegar, 
ic* 



18G THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

each of the followhig whole spices : allspice, cloves, 
cinnamon, pepper, white mustard-seed, and two on- 
ions chopped fine. Cover lightly, and in a week 
the pickle will be ready for use. 

Cucumbers (3). — To salt down. Get an oaken 
barrel, and pick the cucumbers every other day. 
Let them be about the length of your forefinger, 
and as nearly of a size as possible. Wipe them off 
with a cloth, and put in the barrel in layers, Avith 
coarse salt between them. Place over them a cover, 
and upon the cover a heavy stone to keep them 
under the brine. You need add no water, as the 
salt will extract water from the cucumbers. Pro- 
ceed in this way till your barrel is full. When you 
wish to put them in vinegar, pick out fifty or a hun- 
dred from the barrel, soak them in Avater till the 
salt is removed, changing the water every day. 
Then put them in cold vinegar, with a bit of alum 
in it, and just bring the vinegar to a boil. Pour 
into a jar, and cool. In a day they will be ready 
for use. If done in a brass kettle, they will be 
more apt to be green. The alum makes them brittle. 

Cucumbers (4). — Take large, yellow cucumbers, 
pare them thin, take out the cores, and soak in 
salt water two days, then pour over them boiling 
•water, and let them stand over night, and they are 
ready for the pickle, which prepare thus: — For 



VEGETABLE FOOD AND FRUIT. 187 

each quart of sharp vinegar, take one pint of hot 
water, two coffee-cups of sugar, one tablespoonful 
each of ground cinnamon, cloves, allspice, mace or 
nutmeg. Add one handful of raisins or ripe grapes. 
Scald all together, and boil till they are easily pen- 
etrated with a fork. 

Tomatoes. — Slice thin a peck of full-grown 
green tomatoes. Pour over them vinegar enough 
to cover, and add, for each quart of vinegar, of whole 
spices, an ounce of each of the following: — Pep- 
per, cloves, allspice, two ounces white mustard- 
seed, and two onions chopped fine. Boil all to- 
gether one minute, and set away to cool. In a week 
it will be ready for use. 

Peaches. — One quart of good vinegar to three 
pounds of sugar. This will be enough for a peck 
of peaches. Boil and skin. Stick five or six cloves 
in each peach, and boil a dozen or so at a time till 
all are tender. Take out with a fork, and lay in a 
jar. When all are done, strain the vinegar over 
them. 

Mangoes. — Cut a piece from the cucumber or 
melon you are pickling, scrape out the inside, and 
let it lie in salt water two days. Then fill with 
small bean-pods, onions chopped, mustard-seed, 
cloves, and peppers. Replace the piece, sew it in 
or tie it tight, and pour boiling vinegar over. 



188 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPIXG. 



JIETHOD OF PRESERVING FRUIT, PRACTISED BY THE 
ONEIDA COMMUNITY. 

1. The fruit, properly hulled, assorted, or pro- 
pared, is placed iu cleau glass bottles manufactured 
for the purpose, filling them to the neck. 

2. Prepare a syrup of melted, or refined, or 
Avhite sugar, and pour into the bottles, by the fol- 
lowing rule, namely : Allow six ounces of sugar to 
one quart of fruit, or melt one pound of sugar 
in one-half pint of water, and give one-half pint 
of syrup thus produced to one quart bottle of 
fruit. 

3. Place the bottles in a steaming-box, or a 
boiler with a false bottom, which may be made of 
loose slats resting on supports so as to raise it a 
little above the water in the boiler. Cover the 
boiler or steam-box, and gradually raise a steam 
that Avill thoroughly heat the fruit and syrup in the 
bottles, bringing them to the boiling-point. This 
may take an hour from the commencement of heat- 
ing ; but, whatever the time, be sure that the whole 
contents of the bottle are at boiling heat. 

4. Have ready corks, steamed or moistened 
sufficiently to make them flexible. They should be 
large enough to fill the bottle tightly, and require 
Bome force to crowd them in. One cork, as pro- 



VEGETABLE FOOD AND FKUIT. 189 

cured of the dealers, allows of being cut in two, so 
as to stop two bottles. 

5. Have read}^ a vessel of melted sealing-wax, 
compounded of the following materials and pro- 
portions : One i^ound of resin, one and a half 
ounces tallo^v, tlireo ounces beeswax. 

6. The fruit being sufficiently heated, take the 
bottles successively to a table, and quickly cork 
them. With a towel in the hand, they should be 
carried in such a way as to close the opening, and 
retain the heated steam in the bottles on the Avay to 
the corking-table. The corks may be forced in by 
a blow of the mallet, or, better, by a small lever- 
arransrement fixed to work at the ris^ht hei«:ht above 
the table. When inserted as far as practical, if any 
part of the cork remains above the bottle, pare it 
oflf with a sharp knife. 

7. Immediately after the cork is in its place, 
a person should stand ready and apply a coat 
of sealing-wax to the end of the cork, with a 
paste or lather brush, to close the pores of the 
wood. 

8. Next proceed to seal the bottle by dipping its 
mouth in the melted sealing-wax, so as to cover the 
bulb. Then transfer it to a basin of cold water, 
dipping to the same depth, to cool the wax. If the 
dipping is carried below the bulb or rim at the 



190 THE PHILOSOPJIY OF H0USE-KEP:PING. 

mouth of the bottle, there is danger of cracking the 
glass. Now examine the scaled part to see if the 
wax has formed blisters. If there are blisters, rub 
them away with the finger ; use a little tallow or oil 
to prevent sticking. 

9. Kepeat the dipping operation in wax and in 
water. See that the wax is left smooth and without 
flaws, and the sealing is complete. 

10. Pack away on shelves or in chests in a cool, 
dry cellar. If placed on shelves, a cloth should be 
hung before them to exclude the light. In a few 
days after packing away, inspect the bottles to see 
if any show signs of fermentation, which may be 
detected by a foamy appearance of the fruit. If 
this is observed in any bottle, it denotes either a 
crack in the glass, or that the sealing was imperfect. 
The bottle should be opened or examined, the con- 
tents scalded, and the process of sealing repeated as 
before. In some cases, during the season, a little 
vegetable mould may be seen to gather on the sur- 
face of the fruit in the bottles, but this is not to be 
regarded, as it can be readily separated on open- 
ing the bottles, leaving the mass of fruit without 
harm. 

Two or three persons can carry forward the differ- 
ent operations of preserving at the same time, and 
with more convenience than one alone. 



VEGETABLE FOOD AND FRUIT. 191 

The rule for syrup given above is adapted to 
the strawberry, cherry, and other and similar fruits. 
Very acid fruits, like the currant, Avill allow a greater 
proportion of sugar. 



192 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE KITCHEN-GARDEX. 

Good house-keeping does not begin or end with 
the fronf and back doorsteps of one's home. The 
same spirit and system, the same thoughtfidness 
and care, the economy and forethought that reign 
within, infusing a tone and, so to speak, a soul 
through the well-kept house, from the wholesome 
cellar to the orderly garret, will expand into the 
door-yard and bloom in the garden. 

The heavy work of cultivation will, of course, be 
done- by the broader shoulder and the tougher hand . 
But to lay out, plan, and keep a garden requires the 
same sort of care and attention that arc demanded 
in house-keeping. 

The highest success in gardening requires that 
gentle fostering, that daily vigilance, that patient 
and ever-recurring attention to the same little de- 
tails, which consume the time and en<jross the atten- 
tion of the houscAvifc. 

All a lady has to do, in order to have her garden 
in as high a condition as her parlor, her kitchen, or 
the family wardrobe, is to carry her system and the 
maxims of thrift, and order, and thoroughness out 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 193 

among her curraut-bushes, her cherry-trees, her 
vines, and her beds. 

The point of fimdamentid importance in a good 
garden is tliat it be well situated, so as to be capa- 
ble of drainao-e, and also of receivinsf the sewerasre 
of the house. 

As a rule, where the soil is naturally strong, and 
a good manuring is given at the beginning, a tract 
of half an acre can be not only kept in condition, 
but constantly improved in productiveness, if it re- 
ceive all the fertilizing matter tJiat a family of six 
persons produces. 

Hence the first step for one Avho has resolved on 
success in gardening is to have effective drains made 
from the kitchen and back yard, and to establish the 
law in her household that no slops, or suds, or offal, 
or filth, shall go anywhere but into that drain. 

By a wise and beneficent law of organic chemis- 
try, the more repulsive and disgusting any sub- 
stance is, the more valuable it is as a manure. A 
dead dog, properly applied to the soil, gives as 
much fertility as ten or twenty pounds of the best 
guano. A tub of filthy suds is a solution of some 
of the richest of the agricultural salts. It contains 
soda, ammonia, sulphur, phosphorus, potash, and 
some lime, — all of which arc in constant demand 
by the most valuable of our crops. Hence the im- 

17 



194 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

• 

portancc of some arnmgcniont, that will bo found 
not too expensive, yet efTcctual, for conveying all 
the wash and offal of a house, and discharging it 
upon the kitchen-garden. The plan which faces this 
page is suggested as one that can be carried into 
execution in the greatest miml^er of houses, and 
which can be introduced upon any premises where 
the irfirden is on a level ^vith or a little lov/er than 
the dwelling. 

K represents the kitchen, the same in arrange- 
ment as that more fully described in Plan No. 1, in 
the twenty-second chapter. On the south side of 
the room is 5, the sink, with a pump and water- 
pipe. This waste-pipe discharges into a drain, 
marked d d d, which conveys the . Avaste of the 
house into the middle of the garden, at a sufficient 
distance. The opening, marked g, is about two 
feet square, and covered Avith grating. The earth 
should be stamped hard and made to dip around its 
edges, so that buckets or tubs emptied near will 
discharge into the drain. From ^ to c the drain 
should be of ample size, and laid below frost Avith 
the ordinary large drain ing-tiles of porous texture. 
It discharges into c, a cesspool, which may bo made 
by digging a pit and sinking a large hogshead, after 
giving it a heavy coating of tar within and without. 
Cover it Avith stout plank, and near by, at m, have 



^ o ^^ <^^ f\ ;n 







G a 




1, ], 1, Currant Bushes. 2, Strawberries. 3, Tomatoes. 4, Beans. 5, Po- 
tatoes. 6, Onions. 7, Vines. 8, Carrots and Beets. 9, Cabbages. 10, Corn. 
n.Peas. 12, 12, Raspberries. 13, 13, Blackberries. 14, 14, Grape Trellis. 

195 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 197 

a pit two feet deep and eight feet iquare. The 
bottom and sides should be made firm with stone 
covered with cement, or by ramming clay so as to 
hold water. It would be advisable to cover it with 
a rude shed, made by setting up four posts and 
thatching with straw or sea-weed. This completes 
the apparatus for manure-making, the whole of 
which need not cost over twenty-five dollars. 

The waste water from the sink will, of course, go 
into the drain. At g all the dirty water from the 
yard, the wash-tubs, fetid brine, fish-scales, and 
ofial can be thrown ; and, if the descent is sufficient, 
everything will be washed down into the cesspool, 
the bars keeping back what would choke the drain. ■ 

Let all the decaying vegetable matter, — the 
leaves, weeds, turf, vegetables that have Spoiled, 
— as well as all the dead cats and hens, pigs and 
puppies, be taken- to ??i, and thrown into a promis- 
cuous pile, and covered with earth or dry muck 
enough to absorb the ofiensive gases. From time 
to time, open the cesspool, and, with an old pail 
tied to a pole, dip out the contents, and use them 
in watering the garden. 

In wet weather, and in the fall, when the garden 
needs no watering, pour the contents of the cess- 
pool over the manure pile, adding a little diluted 
sulphuric acid, or chloride of lime, or copperas- 

17* 



198 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

water, to absorb the odors and enrich the heap. 
Thus every spring will sec a pile of manure, the 
richest and strongest that can be made at home, in 
the centre of the garden, when it can be applied 
with the shovel and the wheelbarroAv, without cost- 
ing more than a few hours' attention every month. 
In this way a famil}^ can, in the easiest and most 
perfect manner, discharge the first grand agricul- 
tural duty of man, — thai of returning to the soil as 
fertilizers all the salts produced hy the combustion 
of food in the hu7nan body. 

Provision thus being made for an abundant sup- 
ply of manure, nothing but proper cultivation is 
lacking for the production of a first-class garden, 
unless the soil be of hopeless sterility. But first of 
all, let it be remembered that the primary requisite 
for root culture especially, to which gardens are 
chiefly devoted, is a deep soil and thorough under- 
draining. The great defects of American farming 
have been, first, that Ave plough too great a surface ; 
and, second, that our agriculture is based upon 
English antecedents and practices ; whereas our cli- 
mate is a great deal dryer than that of England. 

Hence the importance of so pulverizing the soil 
to a considerable depth that when the surface mois- 
ture is exhausted in a dry time, the roots may find 
all the moisture they need by going deeper. It is 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEX. 199 

commonly understood that wet, clayey soils are 
greatly benefited by draining ; but it is just as true 
of most heavy, loamy soils, even though lying on a 
hill-side. Those "who drain the most are the most 
deeply impressed with its importance and its value 
to all crops ; and, instead of saying that a person 
cannot afford the expense of so much draining, it 
would be more correct to say that no one can afford 
to impoverish himself by gathering three bushels 
from a square rod, when he might gather ten. 

If there are stones in the garden, no matter of 
what size or shape, let them be removed ; and the 
best way of doing this is to bury them in drains. 
Dig a ditch two feet wide and three or four feet 
deep. If there are any stones that are flat, no mat- 
ter how irregular in shape, arrange them so as to 
form a rude sort of arch over the bottom. Then 
lay in the larger stones, and fill up with the smaller. 
Before scraping back the earth, scatter some straw, 
or shavings, or brush and twigs over the stones. 
The more of these stone drains you build through 
the garden the better ; enough, certainly, should be 
made to dispose of all the stones, great and small. 
Having in this way made provision for the thorough 
under-draining of the soil, give it a good sub-soil 
ploughing, and let the surface be broken by the 
plough and the harrow into fine, deep, mellow tilth. 



200 THE PHILOSOPHY OP HOUSE-KEEPING. 

Ill a garden thus prepared, anytliing that the climate 
permits Avill grow ; and a soil thus thoroughly pre- 
pared is so easily cultivated, and returns so bounti- 
fully from the seed placed "vvithin it, that the greater 
part of the subsequent cultivation can be done with 
the fingers and very light instruments, so that boys, 
gfirls, and invalids can work to advantai^e in it. 
This explains the leading difference between Amer- 
ican and European garden culture. AVitli ns land is 
cheap and rough ; its cultivation is laborious and 
often disheartening ; so that we imiformly regard it 
as a hardship, if not a disgrace, for women to be 
employed in tillage. But the labor of working the 
deep, melloAv, and highly-fertilized soils of the 
Eno-lish and German fjardens is so liirht that it is 
no more of a hardship for a female to cultivate her 
cabbages, her beans, or her onions, than to sweep 
the cottao-e floor or wash the cottaij-e windows. 

In laying out a garden, the most appropriate situ- 
ations should first be assigned to flowers, shrubs, 
and bushes. Currant-bushes should often stand 
near the wall or fence, as the custom is. But they 
will bear much better if planted on each side of the 
miun walk, where on one side, and perhaps on both, 
the soil can be stirred and fertilized. No garden- 
shrub pays better than the currant, for the space it 
occupies and the care it demands. The raspberry 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 201 

and blackberry bushes can be planted close by the 
walls and in the corners. No matter if these berries 
are found wild in the pastures and by the roadside, 
a dozen bushes planted on one side of the garden, 
and properly tended, will, for a month in midsum- 
mer, supply the family with a cheap, wholesome, 
and delicious dessert. 

In planting the vegetable garden proper, the first 
question to be determined is the relative dryness 
and warmth of the soil in different parts. 

The side that is the mellowest, the best drained, 
and the best protected should be devoted to early 
corn, peas, and early potatoes. The lower and 
moister land is best planted in potatoes, in cab- 
bages, and ruta-bagas. 

For the gardens of farmers and other hard-work- 
ing people, there is no vegetable of so much impor- 
tance as the onion. Unlike the potato and turnip, 
it requires garden culture, and, in order to success, 
great pains and care must be taken with it. 

In establishing an onion bed, or plat, this remark- 
able circumstance must be remembered, that, un- 
like most if not all other crops, the onion is not bene- 
fited by a rotation of crops. The bed on which j^ou 
sow onion-seed this year will bear the largest bulbs 
next year, and the next, and the next. In preparing 
your plat, spade deep, and harrow or rake till the 



202 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPIXG. 

ground is perfectly mellow. The onion is a delicate 
feeder ; entirely different, in that respect, from corn, 
or beans, or cabbages. It draws its nutriment from 
the soil, through those fine, thread-like filaments at 
the bottom of the bulb, and will not flourish unless 
the soil is soft and deep enough to allow these roots 
to penetrate freely eight or ten inches, and find the 
necessary nutriment in a small space directly be- 
neath the bulb. 

This is the reason — the narrow^ness of the space 
occupied by its roots — why the onion may be sowed 
in rows so near each other. 

Having prepared the ground as above described, 
and manured it with well-rotted yard-manure, thor- 
oughly blended in the soil, laj^ofFthe rows perfectly 
straight and one foot apart. Sow thick and early, 
and keep perfectly clean. A great many farmers 
will give onions and other roots of like nature two 
good workings, and "when the press of July work 
comes on, they confine themselves to the hay-field, 
and in two or three weeks find the onion-bed in- 
fested with rank weeds and grass, too big to be 
pulled up without disturbing the young plants. To 
allow this, is practically to throw away half the 
labor and manure expended on the plat, for the want 
of a single day's work. The onion requires thorough 
culture, and, if kept clean from the first, the labor is 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 203 

moderate and not painful. But if the rows once be- 
come overgrown with weeds and grass, it is a long 
and tiresome task to clear them. 

According to the analyses of Boussingault and 
Horsford, no garden vegetable is so rich as the 
onion in nitrogen, and hence in fitness to repair 
muscular waste. Instead of putting two or three 
bushels into the cellar, to use for flavoring soups 
and broths, as is generally the practice, every fam- 
ily that has a garden should take from it fifteen or 
twenty bushels of this invaluable esculent for the 
table. There is a way of cooking them that re- 
moves almost wholly the objectionable odor. 

The quantity of nitrogen in a vegetable must be 
the measure of its utility wuth the great majority of 
famines. Hence, next to the onion, the cabbage is 
as profitable as anything that can be raised in a gar- 
den. Unlike the former, cabbages can be produced 
with a very little light Avork. Early in the spring, 
sow the seed in pans or boxes, or on the earthy face 
of a sod, and protect from the cold. During the 
moist days that are certain to occur early in the 
month of June or in the latter part of May, trans- 
plant with the fingers, and, if the sun comes hot 
upon them, cover with green grass or broad leaves, 
or with paper, and keep the ground stirred. All 
the subsequent cultivation can be done with a light 



204 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

garden-nikc that any Avomun can use without fa- 
tiirue. This stirs the surftice, kills the weeds, makes 
heavier work with the hoe unnecessary, and leaves 
the surface smooth and handsome. But the rake 
should go over the ground, in June and July, every 
three or four days. Otherwise the weeds will be- 
come so vigorous and well-rooted that the hoe must 
be used, and the strength of a man called in to wield 
it. Three feet apart each way is the proper inter- 
val for cabbage-plants. They should be planted iu 
the latest part of the garden, — that is, on a cool, 
clayey soil, if such the plat affords. About the 
first of November, pull them up, and take stem, 
root, and all into the cellar, and set close together 
in sand. Thus treated, they will be good till the 
following May. 

The leguminous plants, or such as have pods, in- 
cluding peas and beans of various kinds, are profit- 
able vegetables, both on account of the considerable 
share of nitrogen they contain and their produc- 
tiveness. 

In sowing peas, remember to drop them very 
thick, and cover quite deep. This protects the 
plants, when young, from cold, and, in June, from 
drought. 

The Lima bean is not surpassed for productive- 
ness, or in richness and nutritive power. 



THE KITCHEN-GARDEX. 205 

It does liot pay to devote much of the urea of a 
rich kitchen-garden to summer squashes. Winter- 
squashes, of which the Hubbard and the nutmeg 
are not surpassed, are more profitable. Vines of 
this class are ranlc feeders, and sliould be planted 
in the richest part of the garden, not far from the 
cesspool described in the first of the chapter, or 
where they can receive the drain from the house. 
They can utilize raw and gross manures that would 
have little efiect on more delicate plants. 

Of the spindle-shaped roots, the carrot is, on the 
whole, the most profitable, though the large sugar 
beet should not be neglected. It is not commonly 
known that the tops or leaves of the carrot, the beet 
and the ruta-baga are as valuable for feeding to cows 
as the root. They can be kept for some time, by 
partly drying them and salting. Coming as they 
do in November, just when the grass is killed, they 
may be used so as to prevent the feeding out of hay 
and roots. • 

It is of great importance, for securing clean- 
ness in a garden, that no weeds or grasses be al- 
lowed to go to seed. Most people keep their 
gardens quite clean till August, and then let the 
weeds have their way. ]\Iany, even at that lato 
hour, will hasten to maturity, and scatter their seeds 
over the surface after the first frost. This should 
18 



206 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

never be tolerated. If .a piece of ground is kept 
clean for three or four years, most of the foul 
seeds will die ; and the garden can be kept free of 
weeds on half the labor. 



* cows, HEXS, AND BEES. 207 

CHAPTER XI. 

cows, HEKS, AXD BEES. 

As a general practice, the wives and daughters 
of this country spend far too much time in cooking 
pork, potatoes, bread, and pies, Avashing dishes, 
sweeping and ironing. To live snugly, to do her 
oAvn work, to Adbrute perpetually between the 
kitchen and sitting-room, and save the expense 
and perplexity and waste of hired service, this is 
supposed to be the best that our women can do 
to aid a husband or a father in makins; a moderate 
income command the c^reatest number of home 
comforts. 

Now, what is the effect of this system, and what 
does it make of our Avoraen? It condemns them to 
pass a considerable part of each day in close and 
heated apartments, bending over a cube of hot iron, 
their hands immersed in disagreeable compounds, 
breathing a vitiated air, their minds dwarfed by the 
perpetual recurrence of the same task, to be gone 
through with, in precisely the same way, three hun- 
dred and sixty-five days in the year. 

Is there, in the nature of things, any necessity, 
because a man is in moderate circumstances, that 



208 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

his ■\vifo, unci sister, and daugliter must ever remain 
nothino; but houscliold drud^fcs, their minds and 
bodies alike absorbed in brainless labors ? 

We are not urging greater exemption from -woi'k 
of all kinds for the women of America. As a gen- 
eral proposition, as many of our diseases are pro- 
duced by the lack of proper exercise as ])y over- 
work. The precise lesson we would inculcate is 
found at the head of the page. We would have the 
housewife employ a German or Irish girl, and give 
her two dollars a Aveek for going through the daily 
drudgery of the kitchen, in order that she may eai'n 
twice as much, with ten times the ease, comfort, and 
recreation to herself, by employing the time thus 
rescued from the broom, the dish-pan, and the Avash- 
tub, in attention to her cows, her hens, and her 
bees. 

The same remark made in the foregoing chapter, 
as to the fitness of garden lal)or for women, applies 
here. With the exception of supplying the winter's 
food of a cow, there is nothing connected with the 
care of this animal that may not be done Avith mod- 
erate exertion, — nothing that is beyond the strength 
of any woman in good health. In temper and dis- 
position a Avoman is more suitable than most men to 
have the care of a coav. 

Zadoc Pratt, Avho is proljably the most successful 



cows, HENS, AND BEES. 209 

and thrifty daiiyman in America, gives the most 
unqualified testimony on this point. 

*'It is important," says lie, "ahvaj^s to treat milk- 
ing cows with kindness. Blows and harsh words 
have as much effect in rendering them ugly as they 
would have upon children and servants." 

Especially at milking-time, one should never for- 
get that gentleness is an essential requisite. As far 
as possible, the same person should always milk the 
same cow. Cows should never be run, or doirsred, 
or in any way annoyed. A girl is better than a 
boy, on this account, for driving cows to and from 
IDasture. They are damaged as milkers by every- 
thing that annoys or frightens them. Cows and all 
ruminating animals are very social in their nature, 
and this should never be lost sight of. Two cows 
in a pasture will give more milk and fatten faster 
than the same two, if kept on equally good grass, 
but separated by a high fence. A horse, or even a 
hog, is some company for a cow ; and anything that 
makes an animal of this gregarious disposition con- 
tented and cheerful adds to her value. 

A great deal has been said, of late, on the advan- 
tage of green-soiling cows, and, where milk is sold 
by the quantity, the practice is a good one. But 
where a family has but one or two good cows, and 
wish to have milk of the finest flavor, and butter in 

13* 



210 THE rHILOSOPIIY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

the highest perfection, the animals should, for at 
least half the day, range in a pasture "where they 
can find a variety of sweet grasses and an abmi- 
dancc of shade and water. If the pasture is small 
or close-cropped, then have some green crop, as 
millet, clover, corn sown broadcast, or, in the latter 
liart of the season, pumpkins and roots, from which 
the cow ma}' be fed regularly as much as she will 
cat. There is no better or cheaper food for a cow 
than corn sown broadcast, cut when in tassel, and 
dried. It should be cut fine, moistened, a handful 
of salt sprinkled over it, and a quart of provender 
mixed Avith it. The llavor of butter, as well as its 
color, is mucli affected hy the food of cows ; and for 
dry food there is nothing so good for cows as clover, 
second crop, or rowen and corn, the blade and ear. 

Ever3"thing about a cow should be done with the 
utmost regularity and uniformlt}' ; — the times of 
feeding and milking, the hour of coming from pas- 
ture, and the rate of -milking should never var}'. 

In the care of milk, much depends upon the use 
to which it is destined. That which is set for cream 
should be strained into shallow pans, and kept un- 
disturbed, in a cool and uniform temperature, until 
the cream has risen. 

After many experiments on this point, ]\Ir. Pratt 
came to the conclusion that he skimmed the most 



cows, HENS, AND BEES. 211 

cream "when the milk was set in pans at the depth 
of an inch and a quarter in summer, and an inch 
and a half in winter. 

The most mistakes arc made in the time for skim- 
ming. Some families have practices, on this point, 
which are handed down, from mother to daughter, 
for two or three generations, and in consequence 
of which a very badly flavored butter often goes on 
the table or into the firkin, and, when obseiwed, the 
poor cows are said to have eaten wild turnip, skunk- 
cabbage, or some other ill-savored shrub. The fault 
is not in the innocent cows. Their pure instincts 
will keep them from rank feed, unless hunger com- 
pels. The fault is here : the milk stood too long, 
and then the cream stood too long. Now, the ques- 
tion arises, what is too long, and how is the house- 
wife to know when to set her skimmer into the edi];c 
of a pan? In cool weather, — that is to say, for 
eight months of the year, in the Northern States, 
and for six in the Southern, — nothing is gained by 
allowing milk to stand more than thirty-six hours, 
and generally not more than twenty-four. In other 
words, and as a rule easily remembered, the milk 
drawn from the cows Monday morning should be 
examined Tuesday morning. If it appear entirely 
Bweet, let it stand till night, before skimming. 

"When milk is curdled simply, the cream is un- 



212 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

injured ; but when the souring has proceeded so far 
that "whey rises and stands under the cream, nothing 
will make good butter of it. It should be put in a 
vessel by itself, and on no account mixed Avith the 
sweet cream. If cream that has become thus in- 
fected is mixed with other cream, the whole acquires 
the same sharp, disagreeable taste ; and there is no 
mode of treatment by which it can be expelled, and 
good butter made from it. 

It should also be remembered that cream easily 
absorbs odors and flavors, and, on that account, 
should be kept closely covered and in a clean, cool 
place. The bottom of a cool cellar is generally se- 
lected for that purpose by the careful housewife. 
An earthen-ware churn is the best, because the 
sweetest. If wood is used, some variety should bo 
chosen that has no resin or taste. Hemlock is, on 
that account, the best timber for all vessels into 
which milk, cream, or butter is put. Oak and ash 
are open to but slight objection. Too much care 
cannot be used in making all such vessels perfectly 
sweet. In w^ashing and scalding a churn or firkin, 
and especially the latter, remember that a handful 
of hay thrown into the hot water will make ever}-- 
thing very sweet. Some use scalding w^hey or but- 
termilk ; but the hay-water is universally employed 



cows, HENS, AND BEES. 213 

in English dairies, which send the finest butter to 
market. 

A difi*ercncG of practice is found in the best con- 
ducted dairies as to whether butter should be worked 
in water. The finest-flavored butter is more fre- 
quently produced without Avater, the buttermilk be- 
ing expelled by hand only. On the other hand, 
butter that is to be packed in firkins is more entirely 
cleared of milk by the use of water. The hand is 
more efiective than any paddle or roller in workhig 
a small lot of butter, such as is generally made for 
family use, from one or two cows. Much depends 
upon the movement of the hand in working. If 
moulded too long, or pressed in the hand, the grain 
is thus injured, and the butter will stick to the knife 
when cut. This is never seen in first-class butter. 
The best way to work from two to five pounds is to 
have a Avooden tray, about a foot wide, and two and 
a half feet long. Place it so that one end is hiijher 
than the other, and lay the butter, as you take it 
from the churn, in the highest end. Dip the hand 
in cold water, — ice-water, if it is summer, — and 
rub with fine salt. Commence to work by making 
channels, or furrows, down the lumps, through 
which the milk may run ofi*. Contiime by using the 
palm or ball of the hand, taking care not to squeeze 
the butter through the fingers. The working should 



214 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

be continued as long as a drop of milk is to be seen. 
Salt should be fine and dry. Allow an ounce to a 
pound. In warm weather, after working awhile, 
put in half the allowance of salt that has been dried, 
and set the butter away to cool. In twelve hours, 
work again till all the moisture is expelled, and add 
the balance of the salt. ^Vhen designed for imme- 
diate table use, stamp the balls prettily, after mak- 
ing them into pound or half-pound lumps. There 
is no more tasteful figure than the small diamonds 
made by the fluted wooden roller, or paddle. 

Of late, the fashion has obtained of moulding but- 
ter into lumps of the size of a walnut, and adorning 
them with a delicate fiijuro. This should be done 
when the butter is fresh, and the little balls laid 
carefully on a large platter, covered with a cloth 
wet in salty water, and put away in a cool place. 

In all the above directions as to butter-making, 
none is of such vital importance as that which relates 
to the time of skimming. On no account allow the 
smallest quantity of bitter milk or bitter cream to 
be mingled with that which is known to be sweet ; 
and probably the best rule to follow is to skim, in 
cool weather, twenty-four hours after milking, and, 
in warm weather, as soon as the milk begins to cur- 
dle. Churn the cream before it begins to smell or 
taste in the least degree sour. 



cows, HEXS, A>D BEES. 21.5 

"VThen it is desirable to keep milk Bweet for seF- 
eral days, without reference to butter or cheese- 
making, it can be done by putting the milk in deep, 
narrow cans, and setting them in cold water or on 
ice, or on the wet bottom of a cool cellar. Be reiy 
careful not to jar or disturb it in any way. The 
animal heat should be removed from milk as quickly 
as possible, by placing the pail in cold water. 

Where the care prescribed above has been em- 
ployed in skimming the milk, and looking after the 
cream, the buttermilk will be sweet and agreeable. 
There is no better drink, in summer, for laboring 
men. In like manner, milk from which the cream 
has been removed before the souring proceeds too 
jGir, — that is to say, before the whey separates from 
the curd, — is a very palatable dish, served in various 
ways. Pour the coagulated milk on a fine sieve, 
and let the whey run off. Then lay in a soup-plate. 
Serve with crushed sugar and cream ; or, hang in a 
muslin bag, and allow it to drip, and become hard. 
Serve with cream and sugar. Pot cheese is made 
by heating coagulated mUk, draining off the whey 
in a bag, and then mixing with the curd, salt, and 
sometimes a little sage or some other herb, as a 
flavoring, and then making it into little balls or 
cakes. In order that such cheese should be palata- 
ble, the coagulated milk must not be bitter in taste. 



216 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

A little creuin added to the curd, when it is Avorked 
over, improves the taste very much. 

THE CARE OF POULTRY. 

There is no form of out-door industry in which a 
little care and attention will bo followed by such 
satisfactory results, as the study of the habits and 
Avants of the domestic fowls. The foundation of 
good living and good cookery is an abundant sup- 
ply of eggs. Ten eggs, of the average size, weigh 
a pound. There is as much nutriment in these ten 
eggs as in a pound of the choicest " porter-liouse " 
or venison steak. 

Aside from their nutritive power, eggs can be 
used in combination with other, and less concen- 
trated, articles, to an extent not equalled even by 
milk. 

Where chickens have a good range, and receive 
proper attention, they will gi'owfrom the shell to the 
weight of from two to three pounds, in five months, 
and to a size suitable for broiling, in three months ; 
and the amount of food that need be supplied to 
them is too small to deserve an estimste. Geese 
require no feeding while there is green grass in 
sight, and in winter they will subsist on the odds 
and ends of the cellar, devouring the outside leaves 
of cabbage, potato-peelings, chopped pumpkins, and 



cows, HENS, AND BEES. 217 

other cheap vegetables ; but some corn should be 
fed them in the coldest -weather. 

The same may be said of ducks, except that a 
pond or marshy ground, not far from the house, is 
necessary for their comfort. 

Turkeys are much more delicate than other fowls, 
and demand much attention and skill in raising. 
But they abundantly repay pains bestowed on 
them, in the rich flavor and high value of their 
flesh. 

With poultry at its present prices, there is no way 
in which a woman can earn, in cash, or save in 
family expenses, from fifty to one hundred dollars 
annually, Avith so much ease and pleasure to herself, 
as by surrounding her premises with thrifty families 
of the feathered tribes. If she has hens, it is but 
a little additional trouble, while looking after her 
eggs and chickens, to attend to a dozen or two geese, a 
dozen ducks , and a small troop of turkeys . A variety, 
also, prevents discouragement, and repairs disasters. 
If she has bad luck with chickens, a family of gos- 
lings may grow to geese, and be fit for the oven be- 
fore corn is ripe. If her ducks wander ofi*, and the 
vermin devour their little ones, she may look with 
mingled pride and satisfaction on a platoon of gob- 
blers parading through her grounds, and awakening 
in the mind of every beholder the most toothsome 

19 



218 THE PIIILOSOniY OF IIOUSE-KEEriXG. 

anticipations of Thanksgiving and Christmas din- 
ners. 

It is not practicable for most families to keep 
more than fifty or sixty hens. If larger poultry- 
yards are wanted, special and somewhat extensive 
preparations must be made for them. "With this 
number, two or three dozen eggs, each week, can 
be sent to market during more than half the year, 
and ten dozen chickens grace the domestic ta])le, or 
enrich the contents of the market-wagon, during 
the autumnal months. 

But in order to have this degree of success with 
poultry, one must have a thorough knowledge of 
their requirements, and be able to supply them with 
everything they need for their comfort, thrift, and 
health. 

It is not best to keep hens, nor any of the 
domestic fowls, strictly confined. They should have 
a poultry -house, where they roost every night, and 
where they can find dark, soft places for their nests. 
The most successful lady I ever knew, in poultry- 
raising, who often had fifty young turkeys for market 
in the fall, and could broil a chicken for her break- 
fast every morning in the year, had her garden 
enclosed with a high picket fence, and kept her 
hens, geese, ducks, and turkeys in a very large back 
yard, where were a pond of water and a large num- 



cows, HENS, AND BEES. 219 

bcr of trees and bushes. On the trees she fastened 
boxes, old casks, and barrels, the side down, and 
half filled them with straw or hay. Clumps of 
bushes were left near the margin of the water, and 
here the ducks and geese had their nests, while the 
hens and turkeys sought out the boxes and barrels. 
A good dog was kept in the same yard, and he pro- 
tected all the tender broods from vermin and strag- 
glers. A small patch in the back side of the yard 
was several times in the summer turned over with 
the plough to disclose the worms and bugs, and, for 
a part of each day, the adult animals, and especially 
the turkeys, were permitted to "wander at their own 
sweet will " about the farm. But all had stated and 
unchanging roosting-places at night. 

This plan is not always practicable, especially in 
villages. But, in keeping hens, bear in mind that 
there is no profit or satisfaction from them unless 
they can be made quite comfortable and cheerful. 
They need a sunn3% south exposure in which to 
bask. They must have soft, fine earth or ashes to 
shake through their feathers, small, hard gravel- 
stones, and access either to lime, or food that con- 
tains it, in order to make shells when laying. 

"With regard to the food of hens and turkeys, it is 
easy to see, that when a laying hen has an egg to 
make every day, besides her own living to pick up, 



220 THE riiiLOSoniY of house-keeping. 

she must have lood that cuiitains the elements of an 
egg. Now, there is as raueli hearty, nitrogenous food 
in an egg as there would be if you should blow out 
the cont(Mits, and fill the shell with chopped ham or 
tongue. A largo egg Aveighs a little less than two 
ounces, and the shell, composed almost wholly of 
lime, weighs a fifth of an ounce. 

On this account, no hen ought to be expected to 
lay regularly, imless she gets, over and above what 
she needs to sustain her own life, two ounces of 
meat, or of grain containing nitrogen. The compo- 
sition of an egg is nearly the same as that of human 
blood and muscle. Hence, anything that we like 
for food, the hens like. This is the reason wh}' 
hen-food should be varied as much as our own. 
Tor a steady diet, there is nothing better for poultry, 
in cold weather, than mush, made by boiling the 
meal of corn, rye, and oats together, throwing in 
refuse bread, potatoes, pumpkin, and all the bits, 
ends, and trimmings of fresh meat or fish. As a 
grain to scatter for them, there is nothing cheaper 
or better than oats. They arc better than corn, be- 
cause richer in nitrogen. 

For six or eight months of the year, hens that 
have free range in the country find au abundance 
of animal food in Avorms, bugs, beetles, flies, and 
grasshoppers. This is the principal reason why 



cows, HENS, AND BEES. 221 

they do most of their laying in summer. They 
have then an abundance of uitrogenized food from 
"which to make up the albumen, fat, and salts found 
iu eggs. If their winter diet was equally hearty, 
they Avould lay all the year as Avell as they do in 
April and INIay, or September. 

The great poulterers near Paris, some of whom 
send a million of eggs to market annually, take the 
horses and dogs, as soon as they die iu the city, 
cut them up, and boil them in a big kettle in the 
poultry-yard, and feed them to the fowls, thickening 
the water with meal, and thus economizing all the 
nutrition in the carcass. 

In the country, there are, with us, coons, wood- 
chucks, and other vermin, that might be converted 
into eggs, in the same way that the French utilize 
dead horses. 

"While it is not practicable to give hens much ani- 
mal food in midwinter, they miglit have an abun- 
dance in the fall, if the entrails of slaughtered animals 
were saved and cooked for them, and in January 
and February their grain food should be rich in ni- 
trogen. Wheat and oats are much better for them, 
on this account, than corn, rye, or buckwheat ; and, 
of the vegetables, potatoes, onions, and cabbages 
are the best. 

As to rearins: broods of chickens, little need be 



222 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

said beyond two suggestions. First, many kind 
souls make the same mistake in feeding young 
chickens that is made with babies. They feed them 
too much and too soon. When a chicle comes from 
the shell, he carries with him a part of the yolk 
enclosed in his stomach ; and this is enough for bis 
sustenance for several days. 

The eyes of very young chickens are so directed 
that they literally '' cannot see beyond the end of 
their nose," and this peculiarity lasts till nature pro- 
vides for the newly awakened appetite for food, by 
improving their vision. As to what is best for 
them, the instinct of the hen is better than the wis- 
dom of man. It is easy to see, however, that as, 
in its earliest days, its life is sustained by animal 
food alone, it would not be best to make a sudden 
transition to a diet Avholly vegetable ; yet this is 
done when the little crop of an infantile chick is 
stuffed with dough. The hen should not be strictlj' 
confined for a few days. Let her have the liberty 
of a yard of moderate size, where, by scratching, 
she can disclose small worms and insects ; for these 
are the most appropriate food for her tender brood. 

Chickens grow fastest when supplied, or rather 
when allowed to supply themselves, with animal 
food. As they increase in size, they will natu- 
rally take a wider range ; but this roving temper 



COAVS, HENS, AND BEES. 223 

should not be suffered to lead them too far from the 
protection of the yard and the guardianship of man. 
They have many enemies. Snakes are lurking in 
tlie grass to swallow them ; hogs will sometimes 
devour them at a mouthful ; and when the sunny 
days of August come, and the enterprising brood 
venture into the meadows and pastures in pursuit 
of grasshoppers, the hawk, wheeling his great cir- 
cles in the summer sky, Avill bolt upon them with a 
terrific swoop. Hence they are safest when Avithin 
call of the mistress's voice, and not beyond reach of 
her watchful eye. 

Millions of little chicks perish every summer by 
wandering in the early morning, on cool, "wet days, 
in tall grass, where they become thoroughly wet and 
chilled. In unfavorable weather they should be 
confined in a dry enclosure, or at least kept from 
the grass. 

There is but one disease that is much to be feared 
in a feathered nursery, and that is the " gapes ! " 
YfHien you notice a little chick opening the mouth 
in a singular way, and, at night, coughing with a 
peculiar, choking sound, you may know that ho or 
she is suffering from this terror of the chicken- 
coop. 

The remedies should be promptly applied. Catch 
the tiny sufferer, and dip a feather about six inches 



224 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSP>KEEPING. 

long into a mixture of melted butter and grouud 
pepper. Open his mouth, and carry the feather 
down his throat, turning it around so as to swab out 
the little windpipe quite thoroughly. Two or three 
such applications will generally give permanent re- 
lief. Here, as in the maladies of the unfeathered 
bipeds, prevention is far easier than cure. Mix a 
little vinegar and a little black pepper with the 
dough that is thrown to them, and you will probably 
never be called to treat a single case of the gapes. 

Young turkeys are more delicate than chickens, 
and require more care and thought. They are 
fonder also of animal food, and, for a number of 
days, should have an egg boiled and chopped for 
their fare. They must not be allowed to frequent the 
thick woods too much, as there is always a tendency 
in turkeys to relapse into their original wildness. 
But their range should be dry as possible, for tall, 
tangled grass is quite sure to be fatal to some mem- 
bers of a tender brood. 

On account of their natural fondness for thickets, 
they are more likely than chickens to expose them- 
selves to the attack of the weasel, the polecat, and 
other insidious foes. They do not consume much 
more food than a chicken, and are worth twice or 
thrice as much in the fall. 

In fattening turkeys for the market or the tal>*-Q, 



cows, HENS, AKD BEES. 225 

some kind of oily seed is the best. Those fed on 
pecans have the best flavor. Flax-seed is good for 
them, but should be mixed with other grain. Wheat, 
oats, and corn, coarsely ground, and made into a 
pudding with some milk, is the best of turkey food. 
So also is buckwheat, and the seeds of the sun- 
flower. 

"When ducks are being fattened, if they eat fish 
or refuse of any kind, of which they are quite fond, 
it affects the flavor of the flesh. Hence, during the 
last week or two of the life of a duck or a goose, 
let them be restricted in range, and fed only on corn 
or some clean, delicate grain. 

All kinds of poultry should lodge at night on 
roosts, or in sheds suitable for them, and so arranged 
as to permit all the droppings to be scraped together 
and saved. 

Guano is nothing more than the droppings of sea 
birds that have never been leached by rain. 

A domestic guano can be made, almost as rich, 
by saving all the excrement of fowls, and mixing 
it with wood-ashes or dry peat. Attention to 
this point pays better than in the case of larger 
animals, and the fertilizer thus obtained is concen- 
trated, and may be removed to much greater 
distances than the heavier composts of the cattle 
yard. 



226 THE PHILOSOPHT OF HOUSE-KEEPENG. 



BEES. 

As yet we are vciy much behind the European 
people in the care we bestow on these curious and 
profitable little animals. Costing nothing for their 
support, consuming nothing in the collection of 
their nectar, and yielding a substance delicate in 
flavor, and of constant value as an article of food, 
grateful to every palate alike, and at all seasons, why 
have we so far neglected the production of honey 
that there is, upon an average, but a little more 
than one and a half hives to the square mile in that 
one of the United States where the most l)ees are 
kept? And how is it that we have so far lost the 
lore of the ancients, that Ave take but a little over 
thirteen pounds, on an average, from each hive, 
while the Greeks obtained an average of thirty 
pounds ? The chief reason is this : Our men have 
been too busy in clearing land, ploughing, mowing, 
and threshing, to give the time and the delicate and 
kindly attention that bees require ; and it has not; 
occurred to one in a thousand of our women that 
they could learn the mysteries of the industrious 
little creatures, and manage them so as to supply 
their table with the most delicious of all syrups. 

A lady in Iowa has of late made the most valu- 
able contribution, as yet otfered I)}' any American 



cows, HENS, AND BEES. 227 

woman to agricultural science, in an admirable little 
treatise on bee-keeping. From the close of Mrs. 
Tupper's essay, which our readers will find at page 
458 of the Eeport of the Department of Agriculture 
for 1865, we take the following interesting para- 
graph : — 

"The ancients called the honey-bee 'Deborah, or 
she that speaketh.' Would that its gentle hum 
might now speak to many women in our land, and 
awaken an interest in a pursuit so interesting, and, 
at the same time, so profitable ! The quick observa- 
tion and gentle handling, so requisite in the business, 
belong particularly to women, and there is no part 
of it which is laborious, or that may not be appro- 
priately performed by them. 

"It has proved to me of great benefit. I came West 
twelve years ago, under sentence of speedy death 
from one of New England's best physicians, yet now 
rejoice in perfect health restored. More than to all 
other causes, I attribute the change to the interest- 
ing occupation which has kept me so much of the 
time in the open air, and ^;aiJ me for being there. 
I most heartily recommend it to others, who are 
seeking either health or a pleasant and profitable 
employment." 

The common impression, on the minds of most 
persons, with regard to bees and bee-keeping, is 



228 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

that some danger and much difficulty must be ex- 
pected in any endeavor to regulate or control the 
affairs of a colony of bees. Others, again, are 
under the impression that the modern improvements 
in the structure of hives liave been so great, that, 
with some of the patents, the bees "will keep them- 
selves, not requiring any management. Both these 
views are incorrect. The bees will permit a person 
who approaches the hive gently, and with whose 
touch and presence they are familiar, to do almost 
anything with them ; and, so far from its being true 
that the patent hives are decidedly the best, some 
of the most successful honey-producers in the coun- 
try use nothing but a hollow tree, sawed off at a 
proper length, and cleared out within ; a cover being 
fitted to the top, and cross-pieces being inserted in 
the middle. 

In commencing to keep bees, we will suppose that 
you have bought a hive in the latter part of winter, 
about the first of March, when the bees are still tor- 
pid with cold. The first question is, what to do 
with it. 

Select a sunny exposure, protected from wind, 
away from any large body of water, and fenced 
from all possible intrusion of larger animals. The 
grass should be kept clean cut around it ; shrubs 



cows, HENS, AND BEES. 229 

and low trees 111:13^ be in the vicinity, but no high 
trees. 

As soon as spring flowers open, you Avill see in- 
dications of activity. Every now and then a honcj'- 
bee will rise, and fly slowly around the hive in 
circles, apparently taking note of the surroundings, 
and then start ofi" " in a bee-line " for her work. 

You will soon know somethino- of the stren^-th 
of the hive, as it is called, and you will take 
precautions against the moth or miller, that is a 
mischievous enemy of the bee. All the movements 
around a hive must be gentle and slow. It is well 
to visit it every morning, and gently raising it, first 
on one side and then on the other, an inch or two, 
look for moths, and, if any are seen, remove them 
with a small brush, and kill them. 

The most experienced bee-keepers are now in fa- 
vor of not allowing new colonies to swarm, but they 
colonize new hives by removing a part of the bees 
from a strong hive, taking a queen bee with them. 
Generally speaking, the new colony, as they issue 
from the parent hive, proceed but a little way, 
alighting on a bush or shrub, where they can be re- 
moved to a new hive. But if always left to swarm 
for themselves, some will betake themselves to the 
forest, and be wholly lost. After the swarming 
time is over, the colonies address themselves to the 
20 



230 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

great business of the summer, that of providing for 
the young, and laying up a store for themselves for 
winter. In the amount made, there is no regularity 
one year with another, and there are great differ- 
ences in hives. If the weigh to fthe hive is known, 
when nearly empty of honey, the robbing, as it is 
called, may be exactly regulated. As a rule, thirty 
pounds ought to be left in a large hive for the win- 
ter's store. 

Bees consume much less honey when protected 
from severe cold. Hence, in the dead of winter, 
for three months it is best to take them into a large, 
dry cellar. If this is not practicable, make straw 
ropes, and swathe all around the hives, or otherwise 
protect them as much as possible. "When the busi- 
ness is carried on extensively, a bee-house is built, 
and made as snug as possible, and dark. It should 
not be used for any other purposes, as bees are dis- 
satisfied with a situation that is not quiet and safe. 
Unless a great many bees arc kept, they will find 
flowers enough on any flu-m where there is the usual 
amount of clover and of apple-trees. The maple 
is a favorite with them, but this lasts only for a 
short time. The chief reliance of the bee is upon 
clover and buckwheat. The former makes the 
nicest honey, and the latter that upon which the 
bees are to winter. 



cows, HENS, AND BEES. 231 

Xo matter what form of hive is choseu, — and prob- 
ably Longstretli's are the best, — there should either 
be a long, narrow door, which may be opened from 
lime to time, or, a glass inserted, so that the opera- 
tions of the summer may be watched, and the habits 
and eccentricities of this wonderful little animal 
made a delightful study. 

No part of bee-keeping requires labor or strength. 
Any lady, who can be in the open air an hour daily, 
may take care of fifty or even a hundred hives. 

To show how surprisingly profitable this form of 
industry may bo made, we subjoin the following 
statement by Mrs. Tupper : — 

"E. G. McNiel, of Tipton, Iowa, says, — 'I shifted 
six colonies of bees out of logs into the Longstreth 
hive for a gentleman, in May, 1859. That year he 
increased to twenty-four, and took off five hundred 
pounds of hone}'. The next spring he began with 
eighteen weak colonies, and increased to forty-six. 
This year (1860), he took off one thousand pounds 
of honey. In 1861, he increased to sixty colonies, 
and took off two thousand two hundred pounds of 
honey. In 1862, he increased to one hundred and 
four stands, but, it being a poor season, he obtained 
only one thousand five hundred pounds. In 1863, 
he increased to one hundred and sixty, and took off 
three thousand pounds of hone3^ Thus he obtained 



232 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

eight tbousjind two liundred pounds of honey, and 
one hundred and fifty-four colonies, in five working 
seasons.' 

"I am not prepared to give an accurate statement 
of each year's gains, either in honey or stock, since 
I commenced bee-keeping; but, in the spring of 
1859, I purchased four hives for twenty dollars, 
two of which died before the flowers came. In the 
autumn of 1865, I was offered one thousand five 
hundred dollars for my stock of bees, but declined 
selling, as they are worth much more than that to me. 
Thus we have, in six seasons, an increase from ten 
dollars to one thousand five hundred dollars in the 
capital alone, with no account of honey sold each 
season, or of bees sold repeatedly. 

"During the summer of 1864, 1 sold from twenty- 
two hives, four hundred and nine dollars and twenty 
cents' worth of honey. Tw^o of these seasons are 
called the poorest ever known in Iowa. What 
branch of agriculture or horticulture pays better 
than this?" 



CAKES, DESSERTS, AND DELICACIES. 233 



CHAPTER XII. 

CAKES, DESSERTS, AND DELICACIES. 

This toothsome chapter treats of articles which 
can hardly be considered as the necessary constitu- 
ents of daily food, though found to a greater or less 
extent on every good table. They are the poetry 
of nutrition ; they are the melodies among sounds ; 
concessions made by the stomach to the gustatory 
nerves. 

Bread, meat, vegetables, milk, eggs, and fruit are 
able, when taken in due proportions, at proper times, 
and well cooked, to supply all the constituents of 
perfect blood. But the delicacies and luxuries of 
the table are universal among all the enlightened 
races, and, like the careful and skilful adaptation of 
clothing to changes of temperature, they are at once 
a type of the progress, and an index of the degree 
to which civilization has advanced. 

No matter how much reformers may inveigh 
against all dainties, as unnecessary and injurious, 
their continued use is a foregone conclusion, assured 
by all the past of culinary art, and by an ineradicable 
taste in human nature for styles of cooking, which 
not only suppl}^ the great demands of nature, but 
20* 



234 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

which tempt the appetite, delight the palate, and 
adorn the liospitable board. 

"When Lidies, hy common consent, dispense with 
ribbons and laces ; when pianos and melocleons are 
banished from parlors ; when books that seek merely 
to instrnct are the chosen companions of all honrs, 
and have usurped the places of the novelists, the 
rhetoricians, and the poets, — then we may expect 
mankind generally to be satisfied with a diet such 
as is prescribed to the United States' soldier by the 
army regulations, and hard-tack, baked beans, and 
boiled rice form the grand staples of universal food. 

But, in the present state of civilization, the lady 
who seeks to entertain in her parlor by the charms 
of her manner, and by the sweetness of music, will 
be equally ambitious to grace her table with food 
that is not only wholesome, but by all the arts of 
cookery rendered delicious. The constituents of 
cake — flour, butter, eggs, sugar, and flavoring ex- 
tracts — are all of them suitable articles of food. 
They are highly nutritious, and are calculated to 
supply both demands for which food is taken, — the 
production of tissue, and the evolution of heat. 

But the very reason that makes cake delicious, the 
concentration and blending of a great many pleasant 
tastes, renders it, at the same time, harder of diges- 
tion than common food, as it presents to the gastric 



CAKES, DESSERTS, AND DELICACIES. 235 

fluids but a small surface upon which they may act. 
In this case, the palate and the stomach are in an- 
tagonism, and the skill of the cook is displayed in 
so blending the constituents as to render this an- 
tagonism as small as possible. This she does by 
creaming the butter, and working it in very thor- 
oughly with the other elements, by beating the eggs 
for a long time, by having her flour very dry, and 
thus producing as much porosity as possible, so that 
the cake, to use a common expression, will "melt in 
the mouth," and thus, entering the stomach in a 
semi-fluid state, be more easily acted upon by the 
digestive juices. With this explanation, it is easy 
to sec wh}'' sponge cake is more wholesome than 
pound cake, and why fruit cake, the most concen- 
trated, and perhaps the most delicious of all, is the 
most indiijestible. The universal fashion of crowd- 
iuGT the dinner table yvhh. desserts and relishes, and 
placing upon the tea table only light and easily 
digested food, is thus seen to be justified by sound 
principles of physiology. The concentrated desserts 
and puddings, mingling with the coarser viands 
which are first eaten, are deprived of much of their 
power of doing mischief in the stomach. 

We must not be understood as advocating the 
undue or common indulgence in rich food, whether 
cakes, pies, or desserts. They are under no circum- 



23G THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

stances the most wholesome diet ; but us people will 
eat them, and as good housewives will make them, 
and take a pride in making them, Ave would give all 
the suggestions possible for rendering the dyspeptic 
punishment, that must to a greater or less extent 
overtake them, as light as it may be. 

Probably the most difficult thing in making good 
cake and pies is the proper incorporation of the oily 
matters with other ingredients. Oil of any kind 
taken unmixed into the stomach is simply a physic ; 
imperfectly mixed with food it may be considered a 
specific for producing dyspepsia. But, as it is in- 
dispensable to the production of animal heat, it is a 
component, in larger or smaller proportions, of 
nearly all kinds of good food, and enters very 
largely into the composition of cake. Other things 
being equal, that cake will be the most delicious and 
the least unwholesome in which the butter is most 
thoroughly incorporated with all the other elements. 
In order to this, it should be put into the flour, not 
in a melted state, for then it will make a paste, or 
in a very solid state, for then it will Avith difficulty 
be rubbed in with the flour, but moderately soft, so 
that the warmth of the hand will cause it to mingle 
easily with the other ingredients. The eggs and 
sugar must be made perfectly fine by beating and 
rolling, so that the atoms Avhich compose them may 



CAKES, DESSERTS, AXD DELICACIES. 2o7 

be intimately blended with the atoms of the butter 
and the sugar. To accomplish this result, beating 
and stirring are of prime importance in making good 
cake. If time is of importance to the housewife, 
if her cares are multiplied, if her fingers are busy 
with other affairs, let the mysteries and subtleties of 
cake-making be jDostponed to a more convenient 
season. The goddess of cuisine is not to be success- 
fully wooed by votaries whose breasts are panting, 
and whose cheeks are flushed. She dwells in per- 
petual calm ; she revels in abundant leisure, and 
bestows her sweetest smiles only upon those who 
approach her in the same spirit. 

Cake-making, like cake-eating, should never be 
regarded as a duty to be done, but as a pleasure to 
be enjoyed. It is the festivity of the kitchen ; the 
flower-plot of the garden ; the rose of cookery. 

GENERAIi DIRECTIONS FOR JUAKIXG CAKE. 

Fiist of all, let the materials be each in their 
kind first-class. Lard is never at any time a good 
substitute for butter ; and good cake cannot be 
made with jpooi' butter. The sugar need not neces- 
sarily be crushed loaf, or perfectly white. A good 
article of cake can be made of liofht-brown su<2;ar ; 
but, if a delicate and snowy cake is desired, then it 
must be pure white, and only the whites of eggs 



238 tup: philosophy of house-keeping. 

used. The quality of flour is also of importance, 
as Hour which will make palatable bread "will iif;t 
always make good cake. It should be sifted and 
perfectly dried. The eggs should be well beaten, 
and the cake will be nicer if the yolks and whites arc 
beaten separately. The fruit should be carefully 
prepared. If raisins are used, they should be 
seeded and chopped fine, then rubbed in flour, and 
dried, which will prevent their sinking to the bottom 
of the loaf. If dried currants are used, they must 
be washed in several waters, floured, and dried. If 
citron, it must be cut into small, thin slices. Al- 
monds should be blanched. This is done by putting 
them in boiling water till the skins rub off easily. 
They must then be pounded fine, with rosc-'vvater. 
The materials must all be collected, and set in a 
warm room, some time before mixing together. 
An earthen bowl is the best article to mix cake in. 
It should be stirred until it is ready to be placed in 
the oven. The order in Avhich the inirredients are 
mixed is a matter of great importance, though it is 
varied to produce different effects. Generally the 
butter and sugar are stirred together till white ; then 
the eggs are added ; then the flour ; then the spice ; 
then the saleratus is dissolved and added. If cream 
tartar is used, it had better be sifted with the flour. 
Put in the fruit last. Have the pans well buttered, 



CAKES. DESSERTS. ^i^J) DELICACIES. 2o9 

or, what is preferable, lined with white buttered 
joaper. Meve the cake as little as possible, and by 
no means' jar it while baking. Most kinds of cake 
require a fjuick oven ; but fruit cake is best with a 
moderate heat, and baked for a long time. When 
cake is done, a broom-straw stuck in the thickest 
part of" the loaf will not shoAV any of the cake adher- 
ing to it. 

The form of the cake pan is a matter of some 
importance. When the cake is to be cut in slices a 
long narrow pan is the most desirable to bake it in. 
If it is to be frosted or cut in sections from the cen- 
ter of the cake to the outside, let the pan be round 
with a conical projection of tin in the center, reach- 
ing to the top of the pan. The cavity in the cake 
can be filled with crumbs of the same when it is 
frosted. 

PUDDINGS. 

The gastronomical tasto of the French and of the 
English is in fierce antipathy on the matter of pud- 
dings. The Gaul abliors tliem, tlie Briton revels 
in them. That scientific gourmand, Monsieur Blot, 
accounts for the difference as follows: " Puddiug- 
eatincr is an English custom; but before following 



240 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

the custom of another country, people ought to con- 
sider if that custom or fashion (whatever it is) has 
not been introduced in that country by necessity, 
which is the case for pudding-eating in England, 
and in some parts of Holland. 

" In England, where the fog is perpetual, or 
nearly so, in many parts, and where it exists eight 
or nine months of the year in others, the stomach 
requires to be filled with something very heavy, 
something that will stay there till the next meal, 
and very often longer than that. It is well known 
that, in England, farm hands, or other persons work- 
ing in the open air, eat six times a day, and have 
pudding at least three times ; they drink home- 
brewed beer, which is very heavy and very rich 
also ; let any one here, in this pure, clear atmos- 
phere, eat six times a day, have pudding three 
times, with a pint of home-brewed beer every time, 
and see how he will feel in the evening. We beg 
of all that may doubt our observations to try the 
experiment." 

On the other hand the English muse has thus im- 
mortalized the national dish : — 



CAKES, DESSERTS, AND DELICACIES. 241 

" O Puddin', 
Brown Puddin', 
Puddin' in a pan ; 
Boiled Puddin', 
Baked Puddin', 
Beat 'em if you can." 

While the greatest of her philosophical histoiians 
has alluded to the effect of the gastronomical prefer- 
ences of his country in the following paragrapl) : — 

" It is not in human nature to be quiet on an 
empty stomach, and while the English nation vaunts 
herself for Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights, the 
more sagacious observer will give to j^lum pudding 
no small share in the affection of the Britis*h 
stomach." 

As our climate and the characteristics of our peo- 
ple are said to be a happy medium between the 
vivacity of the French and the stolidity of the 
Saxon, we have displayed in this country a moder- 
ate and chastened appetite for puddings, neither 
eschewing them entirely with the French, nor chew- 
ing them so constantly as their graver neighbors on 
the other side of the channel. By referring to 
Chapters II. and III. of this work it will be 
easy to arrive at the true philosophy of puddings. 

They should be composed of constituents of oppo- 
21 



242 TiiK riiiLosopiiY of house-keeping. 

sito qualities ; rice, for instance, which is almost 
pure starch, should be combined with eggs and 
milk, whicii are muscle-making. If this principle 
is not observed, but those grains or fruits which are 
in themselves rich in carbon and oily are combined 
with butter or suet, the compound will be indigesti- 
ble and unfit to be taken into the stomach, except 
when the climate reminds us of " the pitiless coast 
of Labrador." Rich puddings are suitable only in 
winter ; in summer their place on the table should 
be supplied with some of the varieties of cream or 
fruit. 

PASTRY. 

Most of the indigestion from whicli thousands of 
our people suil'or, and by which, in many cases, 
health is wholly destroyed, is produced by eating 
freely of badly made pies. They are the least 
wholesome of any of the dishes in common use 
among our people, unless it be fat pork. It is by 
no means easy, in the nature of things, to make pies, 
and especially pie-crust, in such a way that they will 
be at the same time both palatable and Avholesome. 
If you put in lard or butter enough to make the 
crust short, you produce an indigestible paste. If, 
on the other hand, you omit the animal oil, your 
pie-crust will remind those who eat it, of army "hard- 



CAKES, DESSERTS, AND DELICACIES. 243 

tack." There are processes hy which a moderate 
amount of suet or butter can be combined with flour, 
and pie-crust, which is qviite tender, be the happy 
result. But it requires skill and care to insure suc- 
cess. The utmost cleanliness and nicety must be 
observed in making pastry ; the paste-slab must be 
free from all old paste ; the rolling-pin and cutters 
also. The flour and sugar must be of the best 
quality, dried and sifted. Butter free from coarse 
particles of salt, and of good quality, is essential to 
first-rate pastry. Lard may be used in place of 
butter, but the paste will not be as light or as whole- 
some as when made by the latter. Puff paste should 
always be rolled from you. Paste should be baked 
as soon as possible after it is made, otherwise it will 
become dull and heavy. 

Good baking is very important to secure good 
pastry. If the oven is too hot the pastry will not 
rise well ; if not hot enough, it will become sodden, 
heavy, and lack color. Raised pies require more 
heat than the other varieties. 

Be sure the oven is brushed and wiped out clean 
before pies are put in it, else they may acquire an 
unpleasant flavor from articles previously leaked in 
the oven. Be careful to pour out the juice of a pie 
if it begins to run over, so as to prevent a steam in 
your oven, which would make tlie pastry heavy. 



244 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

PIES. 

In making pies of berries, apples, and other fruits, 
it is desirable to have the pastry and fruit so pre- 
pared as to require the same time each to be -well 
baked. If for instance, you place hard, green 
apples in rich puff paste, the latter will be done 
some time before the former. The same is the case 
with green currants and some other fruits. The 
pastry should be removed from the oven as soon as 
it is done, but it does not injure fruit to remain 
there even after it is well cooked. The cook must 
therefore exercise her judgment as to when fruit 
shall be stewed before placing it in the paste. Ripe 
currants, and some other berries, juicy and fully 
ripe apples, do not require longer for cooking than 
will suffice to bake the paste. When fruit is stewed 
before being made into pies, it should be allowed to 
become perfectly cold before being put on the paste, 
otherwise heavy and sodden under crust will almost 
certainly be the unhappy result. It is a good plan, 
when you intend to make pies, to prepare the fruit 
beforehand, and be sure that your oven will be hot 
by the time your pies are ready to go into it. Bake 
them on the bottom first, and put over them a piece 
of paper to prevent burning on top, if the oven 
should be too hot. 



^. 



CAKES, DESSERTS, AND DELICACIES 245 

You can always know by the looks of a custard or 
cquash pie when it is done. If it is risen up all 
over, and especially in the middle, you may remove 
it at once to the shelf. The same remark applies to 
all baked puddings in which eggs and milk enter 
largely as ingredients. 

Another mode of telling w.ien pies, puddings, and 
cake are sufficiently baked, is this : Take a straw 
from the broom, and pierce the pie or cake in the 
thickest part ; if the straw is perfectly clean when 
withdrawn, the dish is done. 

Thorough cooking is indispensable in this depart- 
ment of the culinary art, as it aids materially in 
lessening the indigestion which too great indulgence 
in these rich dishes is liable to produce. 

ICE CREAM. 

During the summer months there is no after 
dinner delicacy so prized as ice cream. In order to 
make it in the best manner and with the least trouble, 
some machinery for turning the freezer in the ice 
is necessary. In large establishments where hun- 
dreds of gallons are manufactured daily, a small 
engine is employed for this purpose. But most fam- 
ilies in the country coiild enjoy this luxury with a 
very small outlay. All they must buy is the freezer 

21* • 



246 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KKEPIXG. 

which is nothing more than a long round tin dish 
with a tight fitting lid. A tinner can make one for 
fifty cents. Any deep tub or long firkin will 
serve to contain the packing of ice and salt. Ice 
cream is nothing more than frozen custard, with 
this difference that more cream can be used than 
when a custard is boiled or baked. With eggs and 
milk at country prices, the materials for a gallon of 
ice cream, cost a dollar, for a quart twenty-five cents. 
The following minute directions will enable any 
country family that has ice and coarse salt, to make 
their own ice cream. . • 

Take two quarts of rich cream and one quart 
of rich milk ; put the milk on the fire ; cut up a 
vanilla bean in small pieces, and throw it into the 
milk, letting it boil half an hour. Beat up a table- 
epoonful of flour or powdered arrow-root in some 
cold milk, and stir it gradually into the boiling 
milk. Beat up three eggs well, adding a little cold 
milk to them, and pour them into the boiling milk ; 
boil it all together, a few minutes stirring it all 
the time. Take it off the fire and strain it through 
a fine sieve. Add the two quarts of cream, and 
three pounds of sugar; stir it until the sugar is 
dissolved. When cold put it in the freezer ; place 
the freezer in a deep pail, which is partly filled with 




Compote of Apples. 





Compote of Pears. 



Christmas Plum Pudding. 




Salmon garnished with Crayfish. 





IJuck and Green Feat. 



Shrimps. 



CAKES, DESSERTS, AND DELICACIES 247 

pounded ice, and surround it with coarse salt and 
ice, in alternate layers. Shake the freezer by turn- 
ing the handle all the time. Every ten minutes 
open the freezer and cut down the cream as it con- 
geals around the sides, beating the cream well each 
time, alco digging it out from the bottom. A little 
iron or tin spade with a strong handle is the best 
for the purpose. If the ice is to be kept after it is 
frozen, the water must be let off from the bottom of 
the pail by a hole that is stopped with a cork, and 
a woollen cloth put on the top of the freezer to 
exclude the air. When the freezer is opened the 
edges should be carefully wiped with a towel to 
prevent the salt from getting in. When the frozen 
cream is to be turned out, apply a cloth wrung out 
of boiling water to the bottom and sides of the 
freezer. If you wish to flavor it with lemon instead 
of vanilla, take a large lump of sugar, before you 
powder it, and rub it on the outside of a large lemon 
till the yellow is all rubbed off upon the sugar. 
Then, when the sugar is all powdered, mix with it 
the juice. Do the same for orange. For strawberry 
ice cream, mix with the powdered sugar the juice 
of a quart of ripe strawberries squeezed through 
a linen bag. 



248 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

The proper time for eating cake, puddings, pies, 
and all luxurious desserts is at dinner time, a good 
many hours before sleep. Thus ample time will be 
afforded for full digestion. Composed as these ar- 
ticles are of rich and concentrated materials, they 
should be mingled with plainer and coarser food, so 
that the stomach shall not require to digest a com- 
pound, not easily attacked and assimilated by its 
juices. 

It is easy to understand why late suppers, where 
rich cake and similar delicacies tempt the appetite 
are so injurious to health. In sleep, witli the j'est 
of the body, the stomach also should repose from its 
functions, but when forced into ill-timed activity by 
late suppers, it retaliates in retributive dreams of 
fear and liorror, and if reformation comes not soon, 
visits upon tlie unhappy violator of hygienic laws, 
dyspepsia witli all its long train of woes. If the 
stomach must be overtaxed, let it be done in waking 
hours, and the last meal before sleep be plain and 
simple. 



% 



children's food. 249 

CHAPTEE XIII. 

children's food. 

Directions are given, in a, subsequent chapter on 
Infancy, for the regulation and selection of the food 
of infants. This chapter treats of the diet of grow- 
ing children, from the time the lirst teeth appear 
till adolescence. There is not a great deal to be 
said under this head, but the su2:2:estions we have 
to make are so important that we ask every father 
and mother, and every keeper of boarding-schools 
into whose hands this book may fall, if they only 
glance at the other chapters, to peruse this. 

There are two scientific truths that lie at the foun- 
dation of sound knowledge on this subject, and if 
these are steadily borne in mind important errors 
will not be committed. 

First, the child eats jjartly to supplj' to his sys- 
tem the means of growth, while the adult takes food 
merely to prevent his liody from wasting. Hence, 
though his stomach is somewhat smaller than a 
man's, the active and healthy boy of from seven to 
twelve years needs almost as much food as a grown 
person, but his meal hours should not be precisely 
the same. 



250 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

It is the nature of fjrowinij thinijs not to intermit 
in the absorption of their food. The tree draws 
sap constantly from the ground during the growing 
season. A stallv of corn does not cease to grow 
from the first sprout till maturity. The unborn 
infant draws its food from its mother's blood at all 
hours till the embryo state is ended. 

For some time after birth it requires its natural 
food at intervals of about two hours, by day and at 
night. During childhood this tendency to frequent 
feeding is natural and should not be repressed. The 
stomach of a child is not deranged, like that of an 
adult, by lunches and irregular snatches of bread 
and butter. Too much of this there should not be, 
for as the child becomes a youth there is a tendency 
to settle upon the usual intervals between the times 
of takins: food. 

"VVe have all of us knoAvn some strenuous and sys- 
tematic mothers, who with even little children have 
put down their foot on what they call dietetical 
irregularities, and laid down the family law, — no 
eating between meals, — and believe they are doing 
the stomach of a youngling a real fiivor by making 
him repress all expressions of hunger, from a seven 
o'clock breakfast till a two o'clock dinner. 

This is not the voice of nature. This is not the 
true law for the period of growth. A very careful 



children's food. 251 

and judicious English doctor, who has written a 
good book ou the management of cbildien, says 
tbc}' should have food at intervals of about four 
hours. 

Another hiAV of growth, too obvious to need 
dwelling upon, is that the growing creature requires 
food that contains the elements of the body ; in 
other Avords, food that abounds in albumen, fibrine, 
gelatine, and the earthy salts. Now, referring to 
the tables in chapter second, what substances do we 
find richest in the constituents of perfect food? 
Flesh, milk, eggs, and wheat bread. Since, then, 
children require tissue-making food, for the double 
pm'pose of repairing muscular waste and fur growth, 
"what substances can be more suitable than such as 
contain the plastic elements in greatest abundance? 

Another scientific truth should be alluded to. 
For some reason, the cause of which has never been 
discovered, the animal heat of children is higher 
than that of adults, and this without reference to 
the character of the food consumed. The blood 
heat of an adult is about 98'^, while that of a boy 
or girl of seven is often three or four degrees higher, 
ranging at 100'' and 103®. Hence it follows that 
children have not the same need of carbonized, that 
is, fatty dishes, even in the coldest weather. This 
accords with nursery experience. Give a hearty 



9.',9. 



THE nilLOSOPIIY OF HOUSE-KEEPIXG. 



boy a supper ot baked beans and pork, the pork 
some^Yhat in excess. His father "will eat it with 
impunity ; but the boy's stoniacli will be likely to 
reject it in a few hours. So with rich pie-crust, 
cake abounding in butter, and other fatty dishes. 
They should never be given to children, for children 
never need them, and they are worse than useless 
in their stomachs, — they are noxious. 

There is in the minds of thousands of anxious 
mothers a o;reat clread of fruits of all kinds as beino^ 
dangerous diet for the young. Not a particle more 
so for the healthy child than for the healthy adult. 
The difficulty and prejudice arise not from the in- 
jurious qualities of ripe sound fruit of any kind, 
but because children will not discriminate between 
that which is ripe and that which is nearly so, and 
because, they are likely to eat fruits of all kinds to 
excess. 

Perhaps the subject cannot be summed up in a 
better or more available form, than by condensing 
the results of personal experience, and the testi- 
mou}' of several medical writers on this point into 
the following 

IIULES FOR THE DIET OF CHILDREN. 

1. Children should have a full supply of muscle 



children's food. 253 

and bone making food, because they are growing 
and because their habits are active. 

Wheat bread and crushed wheat, oatmeal, pota- 
toes, onions and cabbages, milk, eggs, and red or 
muscular flesh are the substances best adapted to 
their requirements. 

2. Grease of all kinds is less useful and more 
injurious to children than to grown folks. 

3. Sugar, sugar candy (if uncolored), molasses, 
and honey are not bad for children, if eaten mod- 
erately. They do not injure the teeth. 

4. Cakes and rich pastries are bad for children, 
not because they are sweet, but because they are 
greasy. 

5. From four to six hours is lono^ enouo-h for a 
child to go without food It is better for children 
to eat four times a day rather than three. 

6. A low and imperfect diet is a great curse to a 
child. It blunts the feelings and dwarfs both mind 
and bod}-. 

7. It is easy to give a child too much rich food, 
but not easy to give an active child too much strong 
food. 

8. Children should do the most of their eating in 
the early and middle part of the day, and sleep, not 
on an empty stomach, but an hour or two after a 
light mesl 



254 TIIE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

FOOD FOR THE SICK A^D AGED. 

It is of great importance to know, Avith reference 
to the cookery of the sick-room and of convales- 
cents, Avhether the invalid is suffering from a spe- 
cial affection of some part of the alimentary canal, 
or whether the disease is of a different character, 
and the stomach is delicate only from sympathy. 

In the past generation, and still among some old- 
school doctors, the low-diet system has been quite 
too much employed with the sick. 

]\Iany diseases impoverish the blood, and the 
patient needs building up with food that is strong 
yet easy of digestion. Hundreds of patients are 
made to laniruish through a slow convalescence on 
boiled rice and a baked apple, when a piece of 
broiled chicken or a tender steak would be very 
much better. 

While an acute disease is upon the patient, his 
diet should be prescribed by the doctor; and, if he 
is skilful, too strict a compliance with his instruc- 
tions is impossible. 

In some diseases, the whole question of recovery 
depends on the quality of food taken into the system. 



FOOD FOR THE SICK AND AGED. 255 

In ordinary fevers and derangements of the bow- 
els, the safest as well as the most palatable dish is 
gruel, cither cornmeal or oatmeal. 

In many cases, the diet should consist of this, 
and nothing else, for several days, sometimes for 
weeks ; and the comfort of tlie patient greatly de- 
pends on the skill Avith which this dish is com- 
pounded. There are few accomplishments of a 
domestic nurse more important than the ability to 
make good gruel. 

I am sure the following recipe, if strictly fol- 
lowed, will produce a dish that will be eagerly 
taken in the pallid hands, and light up a gleam of 
joy "in eyes that had forgotten to shine." 

The lady from whom it was learned, than whom 
a more perfect nurse never bent over a suffering 
mortal, — vigilant, prompt, firm, obedient, self- 
possessed, her presence a balm, her step soft, her 
eye like Ma}^ morning, her voice a lullal)}', — was 
thus complimented by the physician that regularly 
practised in her family: "Ah, madame, that por- 
ridge-kettle of yours saves your husband many a 
dollar on my bills ! " 

To maJce Gruel. — Pour a quart of hot water 
into a clean earthen or tin vessel, over a brisk fire. 
When it boils, take two large tablespoonfuls of corn 
or oat meal ; mix it smooth in just water enough to 



256 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

make it a thin paste ; put a small lump of butter 
into the water, and when melted add the meal, and 
stir frequently for about half an hour ; then add a 
gill of sweet milk, and, when it boils again, throw 
in the upper crust of hard-baked bread, cut in small 
pieces ; let boil some time, and then add a little 
black pepper, some salt, a pinch of grated nutmeg, 
and, a little more bntter, and a tablespoonful of 
French brandy. Tliis makes a palatable and harm- 
less dish, in most cases of moderate sickness. When 
the case is serious, the butter, spices, and brandy 
should be omitted. As the case improves, and ap- 
petite returns, increase the milk and the crusts of 
bread, and stir in the yolk of an egg, boiled hard 
and mashed. By varying these ingredients, a dish 
of various de<2:rees of strenijth can be made to suit 
the condition of the sufferer. 

It often becomes necessary to support life through 
the crisis of an acute distemper, or when the strength 
is greatly reduced, by giving small quantities of 
hi2:hlv concentrated nourishment. There is nothing 
so good, at such times, as the juice of flesh. This 
can be made by the following 

Recijpefor Beef Tea. — Take a pound of the red 
or muscular flesh of beef; cut it flne, and put in a 
bottle ; cork tightly, and put into a kettle of warm 
water ; increase the heat till it boils ; remove the 



FOOD FOR THE SICK AND AGED. 267 

bottle, and pour out the contents. A liquor, or tea, 
"will have been extracted from the flesh which has a 
rich, brothy smell. Salt a little, and give a spoon- 
ful every hour, or more frequently, as the physician 
may direct. 

Toast Water. — Toast thoroughly, but not to 
burn, half a slice of stale wheat bread ; pour over it 
a quart of water which has been boiled and Aen 
cooled ; let it stand two hours, and pour off; flavor 
with lemon or orange peel. 

Flaxseed Tea. — An ounce of flaxseed, not 
bruised ; a little liquorice-root, pounded ; pour in a 
pint of boiling water that is soft, or rain-water, and 
place the jug or vessel containing these ingredients 
near but not on the fire for four hours ; strain 
through a linen or cotton cloth ; make fresh every 
day. An excellent drink in fever accompanied by 
a cough. 

In some fevers, especially the typhus, there is a 
low or sinking stage, when something that is at once 
food and stimulus must be given. The best prepa- 
ration of this kind is 

Egg Brandy. — Take the yolks of two eggs ; 
beat them well, adding half an ounce of fine white 
sugar, a little cinnamon-water, and two drops of the 

oil of cinnamon ; mix thoroughly, and add, by little 

22* 



258 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

and little, a -wineglass of best French brandy. Give 
frequently, a teaspoonful at a time. 

In convalescence, as above remarked, much de- 
pends on the nature of the disease that has been 
vanquished, or the injury recovered from. 

In general, and unless a physician gives special 
instructions, the following dishes ^vill bo found 
saf(*: Boiled rice, l;aked apples, tapioca pudding 
eaten with little or no butter ; mealy potatoes, 
boiled or baked ; soft-boiled eggs, dry toast, lean 
baked mutton, boiled chicken, tender beef-steak, 
broiled without the fat. 

As nourishing and strengthening beverages, suit- 
able especially in the later stages of convalescence, 
there is nothing better than a combination of brandy 
or rum with e2:gs and milk, as follows : — 

Milk Punch. — A teaspoonful of sugar, and enough 
water to dissolve it. Pour in two gills of milk, and 
then, in a small stream, stirring constantly, a table- 
spoonful or two of brandy or rum. 

Egg Nog. — Teaspoonful of sugar well beaten 
with an Q^g\ add a gill of milk, and then, by de- 
grees, one or two tablespoonfuls of good French 
brandy ; spice wath grated nutmeg. 

THE FOOD OF OLD PEOPLE. 

In the interval between thrcescore-and-ten and 



FOOD FOR THE SICK AND AGED. 259 

th^ tiiMG Avlieii "the golden bowl is broken," there 
sometimes intervenes a period of time when "their 
strength has become weakness," and " desire fails, 
and the grasshopper is a burden." One of the more 
frequent annoyances and infirmities of age is a loss 
of appetite. With the aged, the reverse occurs of 
what we observed in children as to the warmth of 
the body. Their heat is lower than that of middle 
life, and they are quite liable to be carried away by 
a sudden fall of temperature, against which they are 
not duly protected. 

For this reason they should not sleep in cold 
rooms, nor live on the north side of a house, nor 
dress in any material but flannel. 

Their food should be starch}^, and the milder ani- 
mal oils, especially butter, should be indulged in as 
freely as is consistent with digestion. The eflect of 
tea and coffee, especially tea, is to aid in digestion, 
and to prevent the wearing away of tissue under in- 
sufficient nutrition. Hence the fondness of the asred 
for these beverages, and the propriety of their in- 
dulging in them ; for they to a degree supply the 
place of food, which, if taken into the system, 
would not be digested. 

Potatoes are relished as long as any vegetable by 
the old. Hence pains should be used to obtain such 
as arc mcah' and well preserved. 



260 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

Baked apples arc also peculiarly grateful in dc- 
cliuiiiG; years. 

A broth made of cbickcu, well boiled, or from 
good juicy beef, and thickened with rice or barley, 
can be diijestcd when nothinu' else would be rel- 
ished. 

The loss of the teeth is generally but a type of 
the decay and relaxation which extends to all j)arts 
of the digestive apparatus. Thus the stomach as 
well as the mouth is unable to manage toush food, 
and the necessity arises of introducing substances, 
as nutritious as can be found, which do not require 
chewing. An egg, soft-boiled, answers this de- 
scription ; and many advanced persons sustain life 
in surprising vigor, after the allotted period, by 
eating freely of eggs, and using mildly stimulating 
drinks. 



BEVERAGES. 261 

CHAPTER XV. 

BEVERAGES. 

Of the three infusions in common use among dif- 
ferent nations, for drink, it is somewhat remarkable 
that each contains the same peculiar principle. This 
fact was pointed out by Liebig, about forty years 
ago, who also discovered that the active principle in 
each has a striking similarity to some of the most 
important constituents of bile. Hence the inference 
that tea, coffee, and cocoa are in some way specially 
adapted to the needs of the human system. How- 
ever this may be, it is idle, now, to attack the al- 
most imiversal custom of serving one or, frequently, 
two of these beverages, at the morning and evening 
meal of the American people. Two hundred years 
ago, coffee was spoken of as a rare and mysterious 
Eastern drug. Now it is consumed, on the North 
American continent, at the rate of six pounds annu- 
ally to every man, woman, and child in the land. 
A vast deal more, according to the population, is 
drank by us than by any other people in the world, 
not even excepting the Arabs, in whose hot and 
sandy land it attains its greatest perfection. Since, 
then, coffee is so much used as to be almost the 



262 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

iiatioual beverage of America, no housewife can af- 
ford to be ignorant of the best modes of selecting 
and preparing this infusion for the table, as well as 
those temperaments with which coffee is congenial ; 
the circumstances under which it may be indulged 
in, and w^hen it should be avoided. 

When the house-keeper goes to her grocer, to 
make purchase of family supplies, and orders, among 
other things, a package of coffee, she is met by the 
question whether she will have Rio or Java. Noth- 
ing is more proper than that the good lady, thus in- 
terrojrated, should be able to make an intelliijent 
choice, and to give, if need be, a reason of the faith 
that is in her. What, now, is the difference be- 
tween "Java," "Mocha," and "Rio," and how does 
this diflference arise ? 

The coffee-plant is a native of Arabia, and, as it 
is a perennial, can flourish only in those countries 
which are not visited by frost. It grows to the 
height of fifteen or twenty feet, commences to pro- 
duce on the third year after planting, and continues 
to bear fruit for sixteen or seventeen years. As it 
is strictly a tropical plant, it has no appointed time 
for flowering or for fruitage. Blossoms, half-grown 
berries, and the ripe fruit may be plucked at the 
same time from the same tree. When the berry is 
ripe, it is about as large as a cherry, the pulp sweet 



I 



BEVERAGES. 263 

and quite pleasant ; while at the centre are found 
two seeds, or kernels, or rather one seed in two 
hemispheres, the flattened sides of which face each 
other. If the berry is allowed to remaiu until the 
pulp perishes or dries away, the seed continues to 
ripen, and acquires a more rich and delicate flavor 
the longer it remains on the tree. As Arabia is sel- 
dom visited by rain or violent storms of Avind, the 
ccffee-planters of that country permit the fruit to 
remain until the pulp dries up or drops ofl", and the 
seeds attain the most perfect maturity. When they 
are gathsred, all that is necessary is to get rid of 
the dried pu^p which envelops them, and see that 
the berries are entirely dry before being shipped. 

The Java cofice is produced in a manner quite 
similar. The climate of that island has, hoAvever, 
this disadvantage as compared with that of Arabia : 
it is subject to frequent and violent storms, which 
beat the ripe berries off the bush. On this account, 
the Java planter can never wait until all his seeds 
are ripe. A portion of what he gathers is imma- 
ture, and none of the berries remain so long upon 
the tree as in Arabia. 

The world looked to these two countries for its 
supplies of coffee until the earl}'' part of the present 
century, when the inexhaustible soil and perpetual 
summer climate of Brazil were found to be admir- 



264 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

ably suited to its growth and culture. Within a 
generation, Rio Janeiro has risen to be by far the 
largest exporting city, for this article of commerce, 
of any in the world ; and more than half of all the 
coffee consumed is raised in Brazil, and takes its 
name from the city where it is shipped. As this is 
a slave country, — slavery being still supported by 
law, — the kind of labor applied to the production 
of coffee is rude and nnskilled in the last degree. 
A time is selected when there is the largest number 
of ripe or nearly ripe berries npon the shrubs ; and 
then, instead of picking only those that are ripe, the 
limbs arc stripped, and the ripe and unripe together 
are subjected to several successive processes, the 
effect of Avhich is to remove the pulp and the tough 
membrane which envelops the seed. Though the 
plant thrives in South America, and produces largely, 
the delicate flavor and the fragrant oil which char- 
acterize the Arabian berry cannot be produced in the 
hot and moist climate of the New World. Thus 
Rio coflee is inferior to either of the other commer- 
cial varieties above named, in respect to that fine 
aroma which comes only by reaching full maturity 
in a rainless climate. This difference is easily per- 
ceived in the size and color of the kernels, the genu- 
ine Arabian berry being of a pale straw color, and 
large in size, Avith very few crushed or broken kernels. 



BEVERAGES. 265 

Rio, on the other hand, is of a pale green color, the 
berry smaller and harder, from being gathered while 
unripe, and having a greater proportion of woody 
fibre. The appearance and characteristics of the 
Java are intermediate between those of the other 
two varieties. 

Mocha and Java, particularly the former, are 
greatly superior to Rio in the delightful fragrance 
which they exhale, and in their soothing and nutri- 
tive effects. The berry, when fully ripe, contains a 
quite large proportion of gluten ; so that the Arabs 
drink their coffee and eat the grounds, as Ave do 
chocolate. Rio makes a nuich more bitter infusion, 
less aromatic, and far less soothing ; but to compen- 
sate, it seems to surpass the infusion made from the 
Arabian berry in stimulating qualities, and enables 
the person wdio drinks it to resist the miasmatic in- 
fluences of tropical and semi-tropical climates. 
Growing as it does exclusively wathin the tropics, 
coffee seems to be designed by nature as the proper 
beverage of the inhabitants of warm and moist cli- 
mates. In the southern regions of the United 
States, tea is very little used as a beverage, while 
coffee is found upon many tables two and three 
times a day. On the lower Mississippi, ever since 
the settlement of the country, it has been the prac- 
tice, in most families, to have served a cup of strong 
23 



266 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

coffee the llrst thing upon awaking, and before a 
person leaves his bedroom. Its effect, thus taken, 
is to neutralize the malarious influence of the early 
morning air, especially in low and miasmatic situa- 
tions. The universal preference for Rio coffee, in 
this region, would seem to indicate a lar2:er admix- 
ture of those elements Avhich make coffee the most 
proper beverage for hot and moist climates. This 
peculiarity is explained by the discovery made by 
Liebig of the identity of caffeine, the active element 
of coffee, with one of the constituents of bile. AYe 
know that the first organ to suffer, when a person of 
the Caucasian race commences to live in a tropical cli- 
mate, is the liver ; and coffee owes its universal pop- 
ularity, in such climates, to the fact that, while it is 
a grateful and fragrant beverage, it acts, at the same 
time, as a corrective to derangements of the liver 
resulting from climate. 

Understanding thus the properties of the different 
varieties, a house-keeper will regard the demands 
of those for W' horn she prepares the infusion. If she 
would delight her guests and her family, and supply 
her breakfast-table with a beverage at once fragrant, 
soothing, grateful, and enlivening. Mocha Avill be 
her choice. If, on the other hand, the drink is de- 
signed for persons exposed to cold, or suffering 
hardships of any sort, — such as laborers, watch- 



BEVERAGES. 267 

men, soldiers, or travellers by night, — she will 
find in a strong cup of Rio those qualities most 
needed. For ordinary family use, a mixture of 
Java and Rio will be found at once the most salu- 
brious and a2:reeable. 

But no variety of this plant, Avhether Rio, jNIara- 
caybo, Java, or even the unrivalled Mocha, will 
answer to her expectations, or afford the gratifica- 
tion she desires to give, whether festive or hygienic, 
unless every step in the preparation for the table is 
taken with skill, care, and judgment. A child can 
pour hot water on a handful of tea-leaves, and make 
a palatable infusion ; but let no nursling lay inex- 
perienced fingers on the cofiee-pot ! If there is a 
spirit that presides over beverages, — a genius into 
whose nostrils the fumes of the fragrant bowl rise 
more grateful than Arabian frankincense or myrrh, 
— his presence should be sought, his aid invoked. 

The first thing to be done is to j)ick over a small 
quantity, as half a pint, of the grains, rejecting all 
that are imperfect or much discolored, and all for- 
eign substances. The first stage of the roastin<>- 
should be over a moderate fire, and conducted 
slowl}', the object being simply to expel moisture. 
Then increase the heat, and stir constantl^^, till the 
kernels are of a dark-brown color, like the peel of 
a chestnut, taking care that none are charred or 



268 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

l)lackeneJ. AVlieu properly ro:istod, the grains are 
twenty per cent, lighter and fifty jx'r cent, larger 
than in the raw state. Just Lefore they are done, 
a shining appearance indicates that a delicate and 
fragrant oil, that is contained in minute cells just 
below the surface, has been driven to the outside 
by the heat. If the roasting is continued two or 
three minutes, this oil is expelled and lost, b}- which 
the flavor and fragrance are greatly impaired. Too 
much care cannot be exercised in rcmovins: coflee 
from the fire at precisely the right moment. It is 
very desirable that the last part of the roasting 
process should be conducted in a close vessel, so as 
to retain the odor. Two or three different designs 
of coffee-roasters have been patented, all of which 
are calculated to secure a constant agitation of the 
roasting kernels, and j^et confine the aroma. After 
roasting, the most perfect infusion is made b}^ grind- 
ing and pouring on boiling water as speedily as pos- 
sible. That which is not used at once should be 
kept in a canister with a close-fitting cover. In 
this way, much of the aroma is reabsorbed, which 
would be entirely dissipated if the coffee "were freely 
exposed. Fine grinding is best. 

Now, as to the process of extraction : The full 
strength of the ground coffee is best obtained partly 
by boiling, and partly by dripping, or leaching. Nei- 



BEVERAGES. 269 

tber process alone is so effectual as a combination of 
both. Tlie French arrangement, known as the hccla, 
or dipper, and the pot, of Yankee contrivance, called 
the Old Dominion, are each an attempt, in different 
"vvays, to combine these two processes. In the hands 
of a skilful person, a very superior article can bo 
made with them. But as they are easily deranged, 
require constant vigilance, and consume a greater 
quantity of coffee, in order to give the same amount 
of the infusion, than the vessel generally used, the 
common pot is not likely to be superseded on the 
great majority of tables, especially as it is capable, 
by the observance of two or three directions, of 
giving very satisfactory results. 

Allow for every large cup to be filled a table- 
spoonful of ground coffee ; mix, in the pot, with a 
small quantity of cold water, adding a little of the 
white of an egg or a crushed egg-shell ; beat the 
whole together with a spoon, for a minute; then 
add scalding water, and continue the boiling heat 
for fifteen minutes, the lid being carefully closed, 
and a small opening only allowed for the escape of 
steam; scald the milk, and have, also, a cup of 
sweet cream on the table ; stir the hot milk and 
sugar together in the bottom of each cup, and add a 
teaspoonful of cream. These should fill the cup 

one-third full. Now add the coffee, pouring slowly. 
23* 



270 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

If the parching -was properly done, and enough 
white of Qgg used, the liquid "will pour off clear, of 
a rich dark color, — transparent as amber, fragrant 
as ambrosia, delicious as nectar. 

The stimulus of one large cup such as is here de- 
scriljed is as much as most constitutions can safely 
indulge in. This should be taken with the first 
meal of the day, that its effects may wholly cease 
their action before the hour for repose arrives. Af- 
ter a hearty dinner, especially if the food is rich iu 
animal oil, a small cup of strong black coffee, drank 
without milk, but w^ith a liberal allowance of sugar, 
is found to promote digestion and a lively flow of 
spirits. No French dinner is considered complete 
without this crowning cup of cc(fe noir. 

Nothing is gained, in economy, health, or satis- 
faction, by diluting this infusion. One small cup 
of strong coffee is as much more healthful as it is 
more agreeable to the taste than a large cup of weak 
coffee. Neither this beverage, nor others in com- 
mon use, should be employed to dilute the food of a 
meal as it is taken into the mouth. When much 
liquid of any kind is drank M'ith food, its effect is to 
retard the process of digestion, by mixing with the 
gastric juices, and rendering them less effective. 

As coffee is a native of hot countries, it Avill be 
found more grateful and healthful as a summer than 



BEVERAGES. 271 

as a winter drink. For the same reason, it is likely 
never to attain the same popularity in the northern 
as in the southern portions of the Union. In high 
regions, where cold Avinds abound, and in a climate 
cool and moist as that of England, tea will generally 
be preferred ; and in such places coffee is more in- 
jurious. A similar observation may be made of 
different temperaments. Wrth persons of black or 
dark hazel eyes and olive complexions, coffee is al- 
most invariably found to be a congenial and favorite 
beverage, while tea is the preference of blue-eyed 
and fair-complexioned people. The aid coffee af- 
fords the liver in the performance of its functions 
accounts for these differences in taste. 

Though the varieties and different brands of tef 
are more numerous than the kinds of coffee, the, 
chief distinction known among consumers, in this 
country, is that of green and black. 

This difference is produced mainly by the way in 
which it is harvested and prepared for market. The 
best class of green teas are those that are made by 
rolling up the young leaves into small and nearly 
spherical shape. On the other hand, the black teas 
are those which are picked after the leaves have at- 
tained lari^er fi^rowth. Hence in black teas there 
is more woody fibre than in green teas. There is, 
also, in the young leaves of which the green teas 



272 THE PHiLOsoriir of house-keeping. 

are made, a larger proportion of the volatile oil, 
wliieh contains the greater part of the active element 
of tea. This is the reason why green tea is found 
stronger than black tea. It contains more of those 
elements or qualities which make all teas more or 
less injurious to the nervous system. 

That greatest of organic chemists, Liebig, has 
made a very thorough analysis of tea and coffee, 
lie finds the active element of each, which he calls 
theine in tea, and caffeine in coffee, identical, and 
he has discovered, also, a remarkable connection 
between taurin, a jieculiar compound in the bile, 
and the two substances above named. He says 
that "two and eight-tenths grains of caffeine (theine) 
can give to an ounce of bile the nitrogen it contains 
in the form of taurin. If an infusion of tea contain 
no more than the tenth of a grain of caffeine or 
theine, still, if it contribute in point of fact to the 
formation of bile, the action of even such a cjuantity 
cannot be looked upon as a nullity." The conclusion 
to which this distinguished authority has been led by 
his investigations is, that tea, as well as coffee, has 
two effects upon the human system, — one upon the 
nervous tissues, and the other upon the bile ; the 
latter effect bein2: to render these beverages to a 
considerable extent substitutes for exercise, and for 
that portion of food which would be consumed by 



BEVERAGES. 273 

muscular activity. Tliis is the reason why these 
drinks are so popular with the sedentary, students, 
persons advanced in life, and with those who are too 
poor to buy food of the best quality, and in suffi- 
cient abundance. To the poor sewing-woman, in 
her garret, cut off from the Avholesomc exhilaration 
of country walks, and subsisting upon bread and 
potatoes, the cup of tea is at once a necessity and a 
luxury. The same is true of the aged, whose in- 
firmities condemn them to the easy-chair and the 
chimney-corner. 

Though tea and coffee are not, properly speaking, 
nutriments, they have in the system all the effects of 
nutritious substances, by checking the waste of tis- 
sue, and by aiding in the formation of bile. AVhen 
drank very strong, however, and in improper quanti- 
ties, these beverages are drafts upon the future, like 
the alcoholic drinks, consuming the vigor of to-mor- 
row in the duties of the passing hour. 

Chocolate, as prepared by the Mexicans and 
Spaniards, directly from the bean of the cocoa-tree, 
is the most nutritious of all the decoctions used as 
drinks. Its active principle, theobromine, is very 
similar to the essence of tea and of coffee, and its 
other constituents are very similar to those of milk. 
But the great objection to chocolate is, that hardly 
any of those in this country, who grind the beau and 



274 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

sell the 2)aste, give a pure article. Sugar and rice 
flour are freely used, and often coloring agents that 
are highly deleterious. The proper Avay of prepar- 
ing this charming dish, which is at once food, drink, 
and stimulus, is by grating the chocolate-cake into 
boiling milk and "water, allowing the same amount 
of the grated powder for each cup as would make a 
good cup of cotfcc, — that is, a large spoonful. 

Take, say, a pint of hot water, and add a pint of 
milk. "When the mixture boils, put in the chocolate. 
It should boil twenty minutes, or half an hour. 
The aroma, as well as flavor and nutritive qualities, 
will depend almost wholly on the purity of the 
article bought for chocolate. If you have been so 
fortunate as to obtain a genuine paste of crushed 
cocoa-beans, the l)everage will be found entirely 
wholesome and highh' nutritious. If you are drink- 
ing a mixture of cocoa, rice flour, burnt sugar, 
annotto, and red lead, it Avill be found indigestible, 
if not poisonous. 

The shells of the cocoa-beans are often dried, and 
boiled like tea. The infusion is pleasant, and has 
the eftect of Aveak chocolate. It is a cheap and 
harmless drink. 

r.ECIPES. 

, To MaJce Sj)ring Beer. — Gather a quantity of 



BEVERAGES. 275 

sweet fern, sarsaparilla roots, winter-green leaves, 
the roots and tender leaves of sassafras, and a little 
black-birch bark. Boil them for four hours in 
three or four gallons of water. At the same time 
boil in another vessel two ounces of hops in a gal- 
lon of water, adding three potatoes cut in slices. 
Each should be strained and mingled, allowing a 
quart of molasses to three gallons of beer. Cut up 
half a common-sized loaf of bread into thin slices ; 
brown them thoroughly, and put into the liquor. 
When the beer is nearly cool, put in a pint of good 
yeast, that has not been salted. The air should not 
be entirely excluded. The root of yellow dock is 
often added to make the beer a tonic. 

Ginger Beer, — Pound well one ounce of ginger- 
root, of which make a quart of strong tea. Add 
water to make four gallons. In this, dissolve four 
pounds of brown sugar, one ounce of cream tartar, 
add and thoroughly mix one pint of good 3'east. 
After standing twenty-four hours, strain careful!}-, 
and bottle tightly, tjdng down the corks. In forly- 
eight hours from the time of bottling, it is tit for 
use, and makes a delightful drink for hot weather. 

To Make Mead. — Beat to a strong froth the 
whites of three eggs. Add them to sixteen quarts 
of strained honey diluted with six gallons of water. 
Flavor with the thin or yellow part of the rind of 



276 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

two dozen lemons. Boil and skim for three-quarters 
of an hour. Pour into a clean tub of oak or hem- 
lock (as pine imparts a disagreeable flavor), and 
when nearly cool, add a gill of good, fresh yeast. 
Cover and leave to ferment. When it has done 
working, transfer to a clean barrel. In six months 
it may be bottled. 



CLOTHING IN GENERAL. 277 

CHAPTER XVI. 

CLOTHING IN GENERAL. 

As so large a portion of the housekeeper's time is 
occupied in the purchase or manuflicture of clothing 
for her family, in making it up, and keeping it in 
order, it becomes a matter of the greatest impor- 
ance to know how each of these processes shall be 
performed in the best manner. 

Before entering upon the practical details of this 
subject, it may be proper to present some of the 
facts and conclusions, elicited by modern observa- 
tion and science, as to the best materials for dress. 

That the amount or weight of the clothing should 
be regulated according to the temperature, and with 
the changing seasons, is so obvious that only a pass-, 
ing allusion to it is necessary. A question of the 
highest importance, as relates to health, is what 
shall be the immediate covering of the skin ? 

The first and principal rule on this subject is that 
the fabric or garment next the skin should be always 
of the same material. In all variations of climata 
and latitude the vital heat is about 98*, and it is 
but reasonable to suppose that the best characteris- 
24 



278 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

tic of all clothing is that it shall presei-ve in the best 
manner this uniform temperature. 

Nature here gives us a valuable hint. The cover- 
ing of the sheep is always wool, — not wool in 
winter and hair in summer. So also of other ani- 
mals who furnish clothing to man. The thickness 
of the coat of wool, hair, or feathers, varies with 
climate, but the material is unchanged. 

The fabrics in use among civilized nations for this 
purpose are of Ihien, cotton, silk, and wool. Let 
us examine these substances, and determine which 
of them, from its nature, is best adapted for the im- 
mediate covering of the skin. 

As to linen — the material generally regarded, at 
least amonsr ladies, as the most desirable — its chief 
characteristic is that it is too rapid and facile a con- 
ductor of heat, while it absorbs and retains the in- 
sensible perspiration and the humors of the body. 

Feeling cool, as it always does to the touch, it is 
grateful only in excessive heat, when the thermome- 
ter rises above OG'*. But even then it is an unsuit- 
able and unwholesome material, for the moment it 
becomes damp from perspiration, evaporation from 
its surface is very rapid, and it produces a chill 
wherever it touches the surface of the body. In 
addition to this objection, on account of its retaining^ 
perspirable matter, it becomes, when soiled, the 



CLOTHING IN GENERAL. 279 

most intolerable of all fabrics used for clothing:. 
One can wear soiled flannel without discomfort 
twice as loni]; as soiled linen. For these reasons all 
modern writers upon health and physiology pro- 
nounce luien the most unsuitable of all substances 
in use for under-clothing. 

For the past thirty years, since cotton has become 
so abundant in this country and in England, its use 
for garments naxt the person has superseded, to a 
very great extent, that of linen. 

Its surface is much more furry than that of linen, 
making it a less rapid conductor of heat ; and it ab- 
sorbs less from the skin. Ilencc it mav be recrarded 
as on the middle ground between linen and flannel; 
better than the former and not so good as the 
latter. 

Being, however, a vegetable substance, it cannot 
compare with wool in its adaptation to all the de- 
mands of the skin. It retains perspired matter less 
readily than linen, but more so than wool, and fre- 
quent changes become more necessary. 

Animal wool has this for its first recommendation, 
that it is the general covering of such animals as 
most resemble men in their structure. A slow con- 
ductor of external heat to the body, its porous tex- 
ture allows the transmission of perspirable matter 
from the body more readily than any other fabric. 



280 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE- KEEPING. 

Its peculiiir merit, in which it excels all other ma- 
terial, is that it keeps the vessels of the skin con- 
stantly open, stimulates them to free perspiration, 
and protects them from the chilling effects of exter- 
nal moisture. 

Thus, if violent exercise is taken in a flannel 
shirt, the perspiration which follows, instead of be- 
ing absorbed, as it would be by a linen garment, 
passes off through the pores of the woollen fabric, 
and the skin remains dvy and comfortable. Hence, 
it follows that flannel is l)y far the best material for 
the clothing of laborers, especially such as are ex- 
posed to frequent changes, and whose ac'ivity varies 
at different times in the day. 

Of all the industrial class, none probably require 
the use of flannel so universally as farmers. The 
diseases to which farmers are liable are to a great 
extent the result of a sudden check to copious pev- 
spiration, and the wide differences of temperature 
and situation in which their work is performed, and 
nothing would tend to counteract the mischief of 
these exposures so effectually as the wearing of flan- 
nel next the skin. 

All other persons who lead lives of exposure, as 
fishermen, mariners, soldiers, and travellers, should 
adopt flannel under-garments. 

Females, also, who by the retiracy and refinement 



CLOTHING IN GENERAL. 281 

of their daily lives, cannot enjoy the vigorous health 
t'jat comes of free exercise and exposure, should, 
for that very reason, be completely encased in flan- 
nel garments. The objection made to this fabric, 
that it irritates the skin, is removed by the con- 
sideration that such irritation is healthful, and may 
be entirely allayed by friction of the skin ■when the 
woollen garments are removed upon retiring, as 
they invariably should be. A little persistence in 
this practice will inure the skin to its new covering, 
after which no inconvenience will be felt. 

As a clothing for children, flannel cannot be too 
highly recommended. It protects them, as nothing 
else can, from the thousand ills and maladies to 
which they arc constantly exposed from their 
thoui^htlessncss and i2:norauce. 

The most kindly and genial of the old French 
monarchs once expressed the wish " that every one 
of his subjects were rich enough to have a chicken 
for his Sunday dinner." Even more kindly, and in 
the direct line of their highest physical welfare 
Avould have been the wish, that every man, woman, 
and child in his kingdom might be encased in a 
complete suit of flannel. 

Contrary to the usage of most families, the best 
time for the purchase and making up of flannel is in 

the spring. By repeated Avashings a fabric that is 

24* 



282 THE nrrLOSOPiir of iiouse-keepixg. 

thin, and thus suited to summer "wear, iDecomes 
fulled and warmer for Avinter use. In making up 
flannels for children thai are over two years old, it 
is an excellent plan to cut the garment whole, reach- 
ing from the neck to the ankles. This fashion re- 
lieves the Avaist of mischievous compression or 
weight, and ffives the utmost freedom of movement 
to all the limbs. It possesses also the d()ul)le ad- 
vantajjo of economizing both time and material. 
Ample allowance should always be made for shrink- 
age in all flamiel goods. If three 3'ards of domestic 
would bo sufficient f:ir a garment of any description 
three and a half or four of flannel should be allDwed. 
All garments next the person should be as loose as 
possible, and, in particular, compression at the 
waist and neck should be provided against. 



THE FITTING AND MAKING OF CLOTHING. 28?^ 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE FITTING AND MAKING OF CLOTHING. 

With the present facilities for sewing, it is prac- 
ticable for every house-keeper to cut out and 
make up all the articles worn by the different mem- 
bers of her family, with the exception, perhaps, of 
dress-coats and overcoats. 

The saving which she may thus make will more 
than pay the wages of a domestic, who Avill perform 
all the drudgery of a household, such as washing, 
cleaning, ironing, sweeping, etc. 

In this way, a housewife, who undertakes the 
manufacture of the family clothing, may not only 
command the time and strength necessary for this 
enterprise, but may secure for herself more leisure 
than she otherwise could have for the improvement 
of her own mind, the culture of her children, and 
the society of her friends. 

Let us, for illustration of this subject, take a look 
at figures. Suppose 3'our family consists of five 
persons, of whom two are adult males. To keep 
up their external wardrobe, at least three pairs of 
pantaloons and three vests each will be required in 
the course of every year, besides loose summer 



234: THE PHILOSOPHY of house-keepenq. 

coats, and under clothing. Xow, the average diller- 
cnce in the cost of a pair of woollen pantaloons, pur- 
chased of a tailor or at a ready-made clothing store, 
as compared with the same garment made up at 
home, the buttons, lining, etc., being supplied from 
material on hand, and costing nothing, will be from 
four to six dollars. 

Three yards of cassimere or doeskin, Avhich, if of 
single width, can be bought at about two dollars a 
yard, is a full pattern for a man six feet high. His 
pantaloons, then, may cost him six dollars, and he 
will thus have a belter and more durable article than 
he coidd buy at a clothing store for ten. On every 
vest she makes, she saves two dollars ; on every 
shirt, at least a dollar, and on other articles of a 
man's wardrobe in the same proportion. Thus, 
fifty dollars per annum judiciously expended for 
material, made up by the housewife herself, will 
furnish a man a better wardrobe than a tailor would 
supply to him for one hundred dollars. On the 
supposition made, that there are two adult males in 
the famil}', a saving of lift}'- dollars on the dress of 
each, amounts to a hundred dollars. 

A girl, capable of performing all the household 
drudger}', can be hired at, say, five dollars per month 
or sixty dollars a year. Forty dollars will cover 
the cost of the food she consumes. Thus, by taking 



THE FITTING AND MAKING OF CLOTHING. 285 

full charge of the wardrobe of the males in the fam- * 

ilj, the housewife can save the cost of a servant. 
To this must be added the amount saved in the 
making of articles for other members of the family, 
beside the satisfaction of feeling that her family 
wardrobe is, by her skill and industry, kept in good 
condition. 

The first enterprise for a lady who proposes to 
manufacture at home those articles of dress com- 
monly made by tailors, is to provide herself with 
good patterns. 

These may be obtained by cutting a paper pattern 
from some garment that fits well, and is of fashion- 
able shape, or the gentleman may procure patterns 
cut by a tailor. 

In cutting out a pair of pants, first smooth out 
your patterns with a warm flat-iron, and spread 
your cloth on a table that gives you ample room. 
Pin the patterns down smoothly on the cloth, which 
should be folded double, so that both legs may be 
cut out at the same time. Take care that your pat- 
terns are laid the right way of the cloth, so the nap 
will run down the leg. Your patterns should be 
arranged so as to cut the cloth at the greatest advan- 
tage, and leave the remnants in pieces as large as 
possible, out of which you will easily find sufficient 
for the facings and waistband. Even thin, woollen 



286 THE nilLOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

pants are better if lined from the waistband six or 
eight inches down. 

The first step in malting up pants is to sew the 
facings on for the pockets. Tlien press these down 
and insert the pockets. Now make the upper front 
part, or what is called the "dress." Next, baste to- 
gether the legs, sew the long seams, and press 
them. Stitch the legs together on the back scam, 
baste on the waistbands, and sew them ; add the 
triangle at the l:)ack, and the strap and buckle. Sew 
on the buttons, and the garment is now completed, 
except around the foot. This is the most difHcult 
part, and you will best learn how it is finished by 
examining carefully a ueatl}^ fitting pair, made by 
a good tailor, taking pains to have the buckram fit 
nicely, and stitching it on so the work will not show 
through. Very much depends on the pressing of 
pants. Your iron should be heavy and quite hot, and 
should be allowed to stand upon the seams, Avhich 
are to be dampened with a sponge, before the iron is 
applied, until they are perfectly smooth and fiat. 
However difiicult the feat may appear to a novice, 
she will find, after one or two successes, that the 
difficulties are easih' overcome. Two days of mod- 
erate application, aided by a good machine, will 
suffice for the cutting out and making a pair of 
pantaloons, and the economical wife may solace her 



THE FITTING AND MAKING OF CLOTHING. 287 

industiy with the thought that she, may be savmg 
her husband four dollars by the task. 

In cutting a vest, pin your patterns smoothly 
upon the cloth folded double, as in cutting pants, 
taking care to have the nap run the right way. After 
the fronts are out, cut from the pieces the collar, 
facings, and pocket-welts. Then cut your back, 
linings, and pockets.. Before removing the patterns 
from the fronts, mark carefully with chalk or a 
thread the places of the pockets and of the buttons 
and button-holes, remembering that the button-holes 
of a vest, when on the person, come on the left side, 
and the buttons on the right. 

Yery much of the ease and success in making a 
vest depends upon the order in which the various 
parts are put together. This is much more impor- 
tant than in making pantaloons. First, stitch up 
and press the little gore beneath the pocket. Cut 
the places for pockets, sew on the welts, and insert 
the pockets, and press. Next, upon the right side, 
baste a strip of strong brown linen , under the places 
for the buttons, and sew them on strongly. Then 
sew on the lining of the collar to the outside front 
of the vest. Stitch on the facings down the front 
and bottom, and press them. Now sew the outside 
of the collar to the lining of the vest, and baste 
upon it whatever padding or buckram you wish to 



288 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

insert. Next fit the lining and the outside neatly 
together, and sew all around with the facing-stitch. 
The right, or button side, is now done. Proceed 
in the same way with the other side, except the 
button-holes, which are wrought last. 

What remains is to prepare the l)ack, make and 
baste on the buclvle-straps, sew the l)ack and fronts 
together at the shoulder and under the arms, sew 
the collar (the lining and outside separately) to- 
gether at the back of the neck, and face the collar 
down upon the back lining. 

If any lady of common skill with her needle will 
follow these directions, at the same time examining 
a well-made vest, she will find that what seemed a 
task quite beyond her powers, has become simple, 
successful, and satisfactory. 

As to children's clothing, patterns are easily pro- 
cured through the courtesy of a friend or by copy 
from a well-fitting garment of suitable size. The 
garment may be ripped up and carefully pressed 
before cuttSig a pattern from it. 

Boys' pants are made in the same general order 
as men's ; and the rules for jackets are the same as 
those given for vests, with such modifications as are 
readily suggested to a person of good sense. 

After a housewife has made a vest and pants for 
a man, the difficulties of boys' clothing will disap- 



THE FITTING AND MAKING OF CLOTHING. 289 

pear. It is always best to line, their clothing 
throughout ; and in selecting the material, gray, 
brown, and the neutral colors in general, will prove 
most suitable. 

In making shirts, the order of putting together 
the different parts conduces materially to the ease 
>vith which the work is accomplished. 

In making the sleeve, for instance, the first thing 
to be done is to hem the opening by the wrist, 
gather the sleeve and sew on the wristband, after 
which the seam of the arm may be sewed up. In 
making the body of a shirt, the facings of the 
sleeves should be put on first ; then put in the 
bosom ; then attach the front and back breadths by 
the seams down the sides, hem the flaps, and insert 
the flap-gussets. Next, put on the yoke, which is 
always lined or double ; sew in the sleeves. Now 
you approach the most hazardous and difficult part 
of your task, the collar and its attachment to the 
binding. Here, all the ingenuity of genius, all the 
resources of experience, and the combined skill of 
the sex have again and again signally failed. In 
treating upon this fastidious subject, it should be 
borne in mind that the circumference of the mascu- 
line neck varies at difterent points, and at diflerent 
times, and the style of cravat and vest collar has 

much to do with the fittinsf of a shirt. 
25 



290 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

If a militaiy vest is Avorn, fitting closely under 
the chin, the binding and collar must be wider than 
with a vest of the ordinary pattern. If the cravat 
commonly worn is narrow the binding must be uar^ 
row ; if the style of vest is low in the neck the 
bosom and binding of the shirt must vary to corre- 
spond. Patience and a judicious use of the scissors 
will in the end achieve success and satisfaction below 
the most obstinate and refractory chin that ever 
wore beard. 

Probably the housewife will not find her skill and 
patience called into greater requisition in making 
any article of apparel so much as in the manufac- 
ture of a gentleman's coat. If she is a novice in 
these matters, usually given over to a professional 
tailor, let her essay her skill first in producing a 
sack coat. The patterns of this she may ol)tain 
either of a tailor or by rij)ping up a well-fitting 
dress or frock coat, and from it cut patterns herself. 
It is important that about the neck and shoulders 
the coat fit well, but the fulness and length of the 
body are matters of taste and fashion. If she is 
making a coat for a tall man, let the skirts be ample 
and of sufiicient length, whatcA^er the dictum of 
fashion may be. The most becoming coat to any 
man should be aimed at, no matter what the Parisian 
tailors may say about it. Cut out the body of the 



THE FITTING AND MAKING OF CLOTHING. 291 

coat first, then the sleeves, and from the pieces the 
collar and facings may be made. Cut out the lin- 
ings in like manner. Now, with the old coat before 
you, proceed in the following order : First sew up 
the little openings at the top of the coat around the 
neck, press them, and sew the buckram or stif- 
fening on to the lappels and press them. Then sew 
up the seams on the shoulder, the back, and under 
the arm, and press. . Then fit in nicely the stifien- 
ing in the front of the coat, and sew the buttons on 
to the right side. Under each button there should 
be sewed to the stifiening a strong piece o' brown 
holland, to keep the button from tearing out. Mark 
the button-holes corresponding to the buttons, but 
they need not be worked till nearly the last thing is 
done. 

Then prepare the lining, padding, and quilting, 
as in the coat you use for a model, and fit the lining 
to the outside, basting it carefully to every edge, 
and sew it neatly on the shoulder. Then make the 
sleeves and insert them, taking care to have the 
fulness come on the shoulder or under the arm, and 
press smoothly on the edge of your pressboard. 
Face the lininsf of the sleeve on to the lining of the 
coat. Now prepare the collar ; sew the inside of 
the collar, with the buckram sewed on to it, just as 
it is on the lappels, to the outside of the coat, and 



292 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPESTG. 

the outside of the collar to the lining of the coat ; 
baste the seams together around the neck, on the 
inside, so that the lining and outside will be firmly 
fastened together ; then turn the collar over as it is 
intended to be worn, and baste it around the edge ; 
then take the binding, after it has been well scalded, 
to prevent shrinking, and, beginning at the opening 
in the skirt at the back seam, baste it all around the 
coat, ending where you began ; sew it down, and 
press ; work the button-holes, and your coat is done. 
If the coat contains outside pockets, these must be 
inserted immediately after the lappels are finished. 

When one has once made a sack coat, it will be 
comparatively easy to accomplish the manufacture 
of frock or dress coats, especially if a model is at 
hand to examine at every step in the process. It 
will frequently happen that the lining of an old coat 
will be good enough, when washed and pressed, to 
put into an every-day business coat. In purchasing 
cloth for linings, it may be well to remember this, 
as thereby many stitches may often be saved, as 
well as many dollars. In this way a very respect- 
able every-day coat may be gotten up, with no ex- 
penditure but for the outside cloth, the binding, and 
buttons, which five or six dollars will cover, and be 
every way as good-looking and last as long as a 



THE FITTING AND MAKING OF CLOTHING. 293 

coat from the furnishin2;-store or the tailor's costinj; 
twelve or fifteen. 

It cannot be expected that a person unskilled in 
the art of tailoring should undertake the making of 
heavy beaver-cloth overcoats, as these require a 
heavier " goose " to i3ress them properly than a wo- 
man's arm can easily wield ; but the housewife who 
has made a sack coat need not fear to undertake the 
manufacture of a sack overcoat. Let the same pat- 
terns be used as for the coat, enlarging each pattern 
a half inch or more. The lining can be wadded and 
quilted, and all the parts put together as in the sack 
coat. It may be well to remark in regard to the 
collar, which is quite the most difficult part of the 
whole to do in a workmanlike manner, that when it 
is sewed on to the coat the middle of the collar must 
correspond to the back seam of the coat, and each 
end be pinned to the point at the angle of the lappel 
and collar, and the fulness of the coat, if there is 
any, be evenly distributed along the collar. "When 
the seam is pressed, both sides will seem of the 
same fulness, and there will be no puckering of 
the cloth. In every stage of tlie work, particular 
attention must be given to the pressing ; for in this 
respect, more than any other, clothing made at the 
tailor's is superior to that of home manufacture. 

If the housewife has a sewing-machine, and is 
25* 



294 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

willing to undertake the making of all the clothing 
of her family, she would find it economy to hire a 
capable domestic to do the housework ; to procure 
a "goose," and get her husband to assist her in the 
heavy pressing. In this way she could easily save 
enouirh in one week to cover the cost of the raw 
materials, of the food of the house-girl, and her 
monthly wages. 

Where the occupation of a gentleman is seden- 
tary, or confines him much of the time wnthin doors, 
a dressing-gown will be found equally promotive of 
comfort and economy. Let it be made after the 
style of the sack coat, varying from that according 
to taste, and, in summer, of thin material, calico or 
de-laine. The lining and outside should be cut 
exactly alike, the front facings sewed on to the lin- 
ing, the two fitted and basted together, and bound 
all around with binding either corresponding with 
the color of the gown or forming a pleasant contrast 
W'ith it. For a winter dressing-gown, it is better to 
make the lining of heavy red flannel than to have 
a thinner lining, with cotton padding tacked to it, 
as the garment can be more readily washed, and re- 
tains its shape better, and a good lining will wear 
out two or three outsides. 

The wife may sometimes find, in her winter ward- 
robe, a worn de-laine, or merino, or alpaca dress, 



THE FITTING AND MAKING OF CLOTHING. 295 

from the skirt of which she may make for her hus- 
band a very serviceable gown, which, trimmed with 
some pleasing color, may be made even handsome, 
at a trivial expense. 

In ripping np old coats, or garments of any de- 
scription, save all the linings and other pieces. 
They will be found useful for boys' caps, for slip- 
pers, for patches, for carpet-rags, and rugs. Have 
them rolled up in bundles, and put away where 
they can be easily found when you have occasion to 
use them ; and in a family everything comes in use 
at least every seven years. 

"Women's clothing is far more easily made than 
men's ; yet to how many is it a vast midertaking to 
make even a calico or de-laine dress, simply because 
they do not know how to cut it out and put it together. 
For such, and for those especially who by the mu- 
tations of fortune are reduced — we might more 
properly say exalted — to the necessity of making 
their own clothing, the following suggestions and 
directions are given : 

For a lady of ordinary height, ten yards of calico 
are required to make a dress, and of merino seven 
or eight of double width will be sufficient ; while of 
silk, especially if it be narrow, from twelve to fif- 
teen yards are none too much. But whatever the 
material be, let the quality be good ; for it is never 



29G THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

economy to piirchfiso nn}tlnng of un inferior kind, 
no nKitter licnv cheap it may be. A good, strong 
though coarse gingham will be far more serviceable 
for a working dress than a cheap thongli showy cal- 
ico. And one handsomely printed calico, in fast 
colors, tastefnlly made and neatly fitting, is of far 
more real value to the wearer than three of a low 
grade carelessly made and ill-shaped. For the 
mother of a family, whose duties frequently call her 
into the kitchen, and who is surrounded by chil- 
dren, there is no dress so suitable as a calico, for 
none other is so easily cleansed of spots and odors 
necessarily contracted in the ordinary routine of her 
family life. Every time it is thoroughly washed, 
starched, and ironed, it is a new dress, fresh and 
sweet. Let it bo of a cheerful tone, ample and be- 
coming ; and when its term of service as a dress is 
ended, it may be permitted, for long years, as a 
quilt, to recall to the chiklrcn whose little fingers 
often clutched it in infancy and childhood, sweet 
reminiscences of the nurserj', — of the loving and 
tender care of the mother, and the innocent enjoy- 
ments of the early days of life's spring-time. It is 
well for a mother to consider, when purchasing for 
herself, whether, after she has done with the gar- 
ment, it can be wrought over for her family ; and, if 
she is in moderate circumstances, it will be economy 



I 



THE FITTING AND MAKING OF CLOTHING. 297 

to buy goods that will answer to make over for her 
little gh-ls. Children should always wear small 
figures, or goods of a solid color, trimmed with 
braid, or some other material of a contrasting hue. 
A neutral tint may be brightened by a crimson or 
scarlet trimming, while for bright, decided colors, 
white or black trimming is most suitable. 

In buying an expensive dress, as a thibet or silk, 
which with care may be made to last handsomely 
for many years, it is always best to purchase three 
or four yards more than is required for the first 
making up. Lay it and all the pieces left, care- 
fully folded, away in a safe place, where they may 
be free from soil of any kind ; and when, either by 
accident or change of fashion, the dress requires re- 
newal, the means Avill be at hand. 

If a lady can have but one silk dress in a series 
of years, she will find a black silk will be of more 
use to her than any other color. Black is becoming 
to every complexion, and a black silk may be worn 
at a wedding, a party, a funeral, or to church. It 
is nowhere out of taste except in the kitchen. It 
may be made gay with bright trimmings, or severe 
with those of the same color. It can be worn with 
hat and wrappings of every hue, and is never out 
of fashion. If the silk is figured, let the figure be 
small, the same on l)oth sides, with no up or down 



298 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

to it ; so that Avlicii Avorn at the bottom it can bo 
turned upsideclown, and when soiled outside, it can 
be turned inside out. Be careful, too, that the 
figure is well -woven in, and no long threads left on 
the surface. These Avill catch in everj^thing, and 
be soon worn off or frayed out so that no care or 
skill can restore a new appearance to the dress. If 
the silk be plain, let it be of excellent quality, not 
stiff and inflexible, but soft and pliable, and, when 
pulled in bias folds, easily returned to its former 
shape. 

Suppose, now, that, all preliminaries ended, the 
dress is purchased, the next thing is how it shall be 
made up. Let the skirt first be measured, either 
by holding the fabric to the bottom of the back 
waist, and determining its length, or by measuring 
a dress that just suits in this respect. Be sure and 
allow enough for the waist and sleeves. In tearin"^ 
off the breadths for the skirt, have regard to the 
stripe or figure, to make each match its mate if de- 
sirable. Allow enough in the Icn£i:th of the skirt to 
permit two or three inches to be turned in at the 
top, so if it wears out at the bottom you can let it 
down ; and if you are making a calico, allowance 
should be made for the hem. If the skirt is to be 
faced, let the facing be cut out and laid with the 
breadths. These you can run together any time, as 



THE FITTING AND MAKING OF CLOTHING. 299 

any one can make a skirt. It may be "well, how- 
ever, to add, here, that in running or basting on the 
facing, it must be held next to you, so that if there 
is any excess of fulness it shall be in the focing, 
rather than in the skirt. A facing may be fulled on 
to a skirt, and not injure its appearance, but the 
reverse is impossible. Be careful, too, that all the 
breadths run the same way as to figure, and sew 
them up, beginning at the bottom, so that any un- 
evenness in length may be at the top. After the 
facing is put on, or the hem made, braid should be 
sewed all around the bottom of the skirt. If the 
braid is scalded and dried before being put on, 
shrinking will be prevented. For making the waist 
and sleeves you must have patterns. Few have an 
eye so good as to be able to cut this part of a dress 
without a guide. If you cannot procure patterns 
from a dress-maker, take a neatly-fitting clress, and, 
after pinning newspaper very carefully to all the 
seams in the front, first, and then to those in the 
back, cut out a pattern yourself, making due allow- 
ance for all the seams. Smooth out your patterns, 
and pin them nicely to the lining for the dress. Be 
careful not to cut out the neck or the arm-size too 
much, and to make the waist considerably longer 
than the pattern. It is easy to trim off, but difficult 
to piece on. If you are doubtful about your pat- 



300 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

terns fitting well, l)astc up the lining, and try it on. 
You can thus easily make any changes that arc re- 
quired. When you have everything to suit you in 
the lining, unless your patterns are exactly right, it 
will be best to throw them aside and cut out new, 
so as to have them all ready next thne. The task 
of making a dress Avill seem very sensibly dimin- 
ished, when you know that at any time you can cut 
one out and be sure of a good fit. "When your lin- 
ing is all right, sew on first the hooks and eyes. 
This will make it much easier to tr}^ on. Then 
baste the lining on to the outside, taking care to 
match the stripe or figure, and have it run the samo 
way in front and back. If there is a fold or stripe 
in the goods, let it run down the middle of the back ; 
then baste up the darts in front, the seams on the 
shoulder and under the arm, and try it on. If any 
changes are required, you can noAV make them be- 
fore stitching up the seams ; then baste on the belt 
and the band round the neck, and sew them on ; 
Make the cord for the sleeves, and baste it around 
the arm-size ; cut out your sleeves, make them, 
baste, and stitch in. The waist is now ready for 
the skirt to be sewed on. When this is ready, try 
on the body, and measure the length from the front, 
side, and back of the waist, making the skirt longer 
or shorter, according to your taste or the fashion. 



THE FITTING AXD IVIAKING OF CLOTHING. 301 

Turn down the skirt thus measured ; lay in plaits, 
if it is a -woollen dress, or, if calico, gather it ; sew it 
firmly to the body ; insert a pocket, sew on a loop 
to hang it up by, and it is done. Be careful to 
keep the skirt, -waist, and sleeves nicely folded 
while yet unmade, unless you are sewing on them. 
"Wrinkles and folds in the wrong place make a ncAv 
dress seem shabby. After making one garment, 
the second Avill be quite easy, and the third give 
very little trouble. 

• For working-aprons, tAvo breadths arc always bet- 
ter than one. Tear one breadth in two, and sew 
the halves on to each side of the other breadth, so 
as not to have any seam down the middle. Sew on 
a binding, and have a bib sewed on the apron. This 
is a piece three or four fingers -wide, and one and a 
half long. Let it be ample, so as to cover the front 
of the waist. As a rule, the housewife should al- 
ways wear an apron, except when at church, visit- 
ing, or in the street. Very pretty dress-aprons may 
be made of white muslin, and trimmed round the 
edjre with a fold of another color, or of French cal- 
ico, bordered with a graceful stripe. 

It is unnecessary to give directions with regard to 

female under-clothing ; but it may be well to suggest 

that for little girls the chemise may be superseded 

by a neatly fitting -svaist, upon wdiich the drawers 

26 



302 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

may be buttoned. A single breadth of sheeting 
■will make the waist. Let it be torn off so as to 
come several inches below the belt. Cut out the 
arm-size, gather the top, and make the band fit 
round the shoulders just right, gather and sew on 
the belt, hem the part below the belt, make and sew 
in some short sleeves, put on the buttons and trim- 
ming, and it is done. For very little girls, espe- 
cially in summer, this little Avaist will be found quite 
convenient, and may be worn until they are twelve 
years old. Their skirts, too, may be buttoned to 
it in summer, thus diminishing the amount of cloth- 
ing around the waist, and, as they outgrow it, the 
length may be increased by moving the belt an 
inch or two lower. 

The preparation of the clothing of the family has, 
from the beginning of time, been deemed woman's ap- 
propriate duty. Formerly, and within the recollection 
of our mothers, the manufacture of cloth was carried 
on in every farm-house by its female inmates ; and 
noAv that machinery has relieved the housewife of 
this heavy and tedious task, and most effectively 
aids her, too, in the making up of garments for her 
household, she can find little to excuse her from so 
pleasant a task. Let the same ingenuity and devo- 
tion be displayed in this most important department 
as we see constantly manifested in those purely orna- 



THE FITTING AND MAKING OF CLOTHING. 303 

mental, and how few families would need the assist- 
ance of the tailor or dress-maker ! How many young 
ladies, who waste their time over novels and small 
embroideries, would, by aiding their mothers in the 
dress-making and tailoring of the family, fit them- 
selves to become excellent wives, and, l)y their in- 
genuity and skill, make the fifteen hundred or two 
thousand a year whicli may constitute a young 
man's income, easily and pleasantly cover the ex- 
penses of two instead of one ! By the knowledge 
of the accomj^lishments treated in this chapter, " soli- 
tary ones may be set in families," and many a bache- 
lor, who cannot afford to marry, find that he cannot 
afford to remain single, — that economy dictates to 
him to secure a capable, industrious, and accom- 
plished partner for life. 

Any wife who can make herself mistress of the 
needle and the scissors, to the extent above de- 
scribed, may bring her husband's expenses for 
wardrobe within fifty dollars a year, even at pres- 
ent prices, and yet keep him, if he takes reasonably 
good care of his clothes, well protected from the 
changing skies, and presentable in appearance. 
And it is not likely that a young lady thus capable 
"will be permitted to remain long without being in- 
vested with the highest honors and the truest digni- 
ties of her sex. 



304 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

CHAPTER ZVIII. 

ECONOMIES OF DRESS. 

One of the effects of the war which has just 
closed has been to bring onr American society into 
much closer resemblance to the European civiliza- 
tion. It has exaggerated the differences between 
the upper and the lower classes, making the rich 
richer, and the poor poorer. By this means, the 
large middle class, Avhose fortune in life was a 
realization of Agur's prayer, when he asked that 
he might have neither poverty nor riches, has been 
greatly diminished. A fraction of it has been raised 
above the modest independence, which they formerly 
enjoyed, to the possession of wealth and the indul- 
gence in luxury ; while by far the larger portion, 
with incomes but little increased, and prices often 
more than doubled, have a far harder struggle to 
make the ends meet than the}' had ten years ago. 

At the same time, the city, Avith its extravagance 
and fashion, its factitious splendors and its social 
ambitions, has intruded upon the quiet country, and 
is imposing its arbitrary distinctions upon our rural 
population. 

For these reasons, which are substantial and per- 



ECONOMIES OF DRESS. 305 

manent, likely to increase rather than diminish, 
there is a growing necessity for the study of the 
art of deriving from a limited income the largest 
amount of comfort, both actual and apparent. 

The two fundamental principles which should 
regulate economy of dress, are, — 

I. To take care that the purchases of fliraily cloth- 
ing are of the most appropriate and durable mate- 
rials, and that they be preserved in tlie best con- 
dition, and for the longest time. 

II. To employ skill and judgment in extracting 
from the material on hand, both old and new, the 
fullest and most varied service they can be made to 
render. 

In the purchase of cloths, the error which besets 
a person who feels committed to economy is that 
she cannot afford first-class articles of any sort, but 
must content herself with a second quality. The 
result is, that clothing thus purchased, even when 
new, cannot give the wearer the look of being well 
dressed; and, as soon as the new appearance has 
worn away, the dress becomes shabby, and must 
soon be replaced with new, unless all thought of 
keeping a presentable appearance is relinquished. 

A little more money invested in the purchase of 
a first-class article, at the outset, would have been 
saved several times over, by making a person look 

26* 



306 THE nilLOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPIXG. 

well dressed as long as it lasted, and by its lasting 
three or four times longer than an inferior article. 

A rich man or woman can afford to l^c mistaken 
in the quality of a piece of clotli. Not so witli the 
poor. He must get the worth of his money, or 
remain ever poor. There is no economy and gen- 
erally no success for him but in buying goods that 
are at once handsome and lasting. He may think 
he cannot afibrd to buy a good article ; the truth is, 
lie cannot afford to buy a jjoor one. 

"When sound judgment has been used in the pur- 
chase of cloths, and articles of an excellent quality 
are ready for nse, the attention should then be 
directed to their preservation in the best condition 
for the lon2:est time. The secret of making: a cloak, 
a shawl, or a coat retain its new appearance is by 
keeping all folds and wrinkles out of it except such 
as must inevitably be produced by careful wearing. 
Very much depends upon the practice of the careful 
folding or hanging up of such articles of dress the 
moment they are removed from the person. How 
very common it is, upon entering a warm room, to 
throw off one's wrappings upon a piano, a bed, or 
across a chair, instead of folding them at once, and 
lajdng them away in a closet, a drawer, or a trunk ! 
No matter how excellent the materials, or how thor- 
ough the making up of a garznent, it treated thus, 



ECONOMIES OF DRESS. 307 

it soon has a tumbled and wrinkled appearance, 
which no subsequent care can remove. This is par- 
ticularly true of silks, and woollen goods of all 
kinds, in which it is desirable to retain as lon<r as 
possible the original folds of the cloth, or the shape 
given it when it left the hands of the tailor. For 
instance, a new broadcloth or dress coat should be 
carefully hung up in a closet, or folded and laid 
away in a drawer, and protected from dust by a 
cloth laid over it. As long as it can be made to 
retain the shape around the collar and lappels which 
the tailor gave it, so long it will have a new and 
stylish appearance. 

So of a lady's cloak or shawl. ^Vhen taken off, 
the original folds can, with a little care, be pre- 
served for a long time. If these folds are lost, by 
being thrown over a chair, with other clothing, or 
by careless tossing into a drawer, a few weeks' use 
Avill give it a common look. 

Another cardinal principle in the care of clothing, 
and one which the American people are, in general, 
singularl}^ prone to forget, is not to wear a new and 
expensive dress except on suitable occasions. For 
instance, how common it is to see persons going on 
a journey dressed, as though for a social visit or a 
party, in garments which are lialde to be quite 
ruined by the dust, cinders, and mud, which are 



308 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

the inevitable accidents of travel ! The stains of 
mud thrown upon a new overcoat, by a ride in an 
open buggy, may damage it more than a whole Avin- 
ter's wear. The dust of a summer afternoon, or a 
dash of rain, may ruhi a new and expensive hat, 
when a little forcthouirht in either case would have 
sujrsrested that a suital)le costume for the road 

CO 

always looks better than one that is unsuitable, 
though nuich handsomer. The old aphorism, "Dress 
according to your work," bears directly upon this 
subject; no matter what care you take, "The 
pitcher that goes often to the fountain is broken at 
last." So if a silk or merino is worn around a 
cooking-stove, by the neatest of housewives, it will 
be ruined at length by some of the inevitable acci- 
dents of the kitchen. Here, emphatically, "Au 
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." 

In purchasing cloth for the family wear, and es- 
pecially for its adult members, regard should be 
had to the various uses to which the fabric may be 
put when the first wearer has done with it. In 
this way a serviceable piece of goods may be kept 
on duty until it no longer hangs together, and even 
then its parts may be made to contribute to the 
family comfort in the form of a quilt, a rug, or a 
carpet. With this in view, it will be found that 
cloths of a gray or neutral color can be converted 



ECONOMIES OF DRESS. 309 

to more uuinerous and various uses than either black 
or blue. Clothing: of this color will bear washin":, 
and it cuts up for hoys at a better advantage than 
any other color. In choosing cloth for a gentle- 
man's coat, and deciding on its cut, it is well to 
remember that a frock, while suited to a greater 
number of occasions than a dress coat or a sack, 
affords larger pieces for the pattern when it is cut 
up for smaller garments. For instance, the skirts 
of any I'rock coat, in tolerable preservation, will 
furnish an ample pattern for a business vest, which 
will be of almost as much service as though made 
of new cloth. The linings of the skirts, if not 
badly worn, will make the back of the vest ; and 
the body, if ripped in pieces, pressed, and cut 
down, will make a boy's jacket. The unworn parts 
of a fine silk or velvet vest will give a number of 
pieces which, properly fitted together, will make a 
handsome cap for a boy, and almost the whole may 
be used in trimming children's clothing. 

In a general way, it may be stated, that in a fam- 
ily of the average size, and disposed to a thrifty 
economy, no article of dress should be thrown 
away. 

From the rim of a common felt hat, double soles 
may be cut, which will protect the feet from the 
cold and damp of the winter. It may be worth 



SlO THE PIIILOSOrilY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

while to remember that felt makes also the best of 
gun-"\vatls. 

From pieces left in cutting broadcloth, pincush- 
ions, caps, and slippers may be manufiictured. A 
saving of from ten to fifty dollars a year may be 
effected in a fjentleman's dress-bills if he "will dis- 
card boots and high shoes for ordinary wear, have 
his shoes low-quartered, and well made from the 
best of French calf, and adopt gaiters, buttoning 
just above the ankle. These may be made at home 
from the best remnants of old garments, and lined 
with buckram from the collars and facings of coats 
and vests, so as to cost nothing. They afford ample 
protection to the lower part of the leg, and are a 
more yielding and agreeable covering thar. the leather 
of a boot. A pattern may easily be made by fitting 
paper over a high shoe or boot. The buttons are 
on the outside of the leg, and on a line with the 
ankle. It will be found convenient to cut them out 
at the same time wnth the pantaloons, and from the 
same cloth. In all cases where the external cloth 
of a garment is old, a strong lining wall greatly en- 
hance its durability and warmth. 

All pieces of the material of ladies' dresses, 
w^hether of cotton, silk, or woollen, should be pre- 
served, and ma}^ be wrought over, hy the exercise 
of taste and skill, into very handsome quilts, the 



ECONOMIES OF DRESS. 311 

patchwork of which may be done at odd moments, 
which might otherwise be unemploj'ed. Quilts of 
calico p;itchwork arc so universal that only an allu- 
sion need be made to them. Those of woollen are 
less common, but are equally durable, and warmer 
for winter comfort. 

The most economical and expeditious way of 
making useful all scraps, ends, and remnants of 
woollen clothing, which are too small or too much 
worn to be employed for any other purpose is to 
work them all into a rug. It is advisable to keep 
a rug-bag or basket, into which all such pieces are 
thrown. When your collection is sufficient for the 
purpose, purchase a piece of common tow-cloth or 
coffee-bag, cut it of the size you wish the rug to be, 
hem the edges strongly all around, and put it into 
a frame, after the manner of a quilt. Any black- 
smith will make you a rug-hook in the shape of a 
crochet needle, only much larger. The shank of an 
old steel fork, when the tines are broken out, makes 
a good one by tiling to a point, and cutting the spur 
or hook in the side. 

A drawing, which shows the proper shape, is in- 
serted. Now, draw on the foundation or coffee- 
bag, the design which j'ou wish to work; cut the 
rags into strips from a quarter to a half an inch wide, 
accordinof to the thickness of the cloth. Hold the 



312 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 



strips under the foundation, in your left hand, and, 
with the hook pushed through the foundation, draw 
the rags to the upper side, leaving them less than 
half an inch long. After the pattern is complete, 
trim the surface smoothly. No binding is necessary, 
as the rags may be drawn through the hem. 




By a proper management of the colors and 
figures, a rug of great beauty and durability 
may thus be made, hardly costing more than the 
price of an empty coffee-sack. 

A simple, and more common mode is to braid the 
raijs, and sew them tosfether in a circular form, thus 
producing a series of concentric rings. "Where the 
colors are tastefully and harmoniously arranged, 
very pleasing effects may be produced. 

Another very important point in the economy of 
dress is the best mode of securinj? a comfortable, a 
tasteful, and durable covering for the feet. 



ECONOMIES OF DRESS. 313 

Here it will invariably be found that cheapness is 
the worst economy. The practice of buying at the 
stores shoes and boots ready-made has become 
almost universal, and the result is that the majority 
of 23eople wear out two pairs where one should have 
lasted, and never, even when the purchase is fresh, 
have the satisfaction of wearing neatly fitting and 
thoroughly made shoes. 

A visit to any of the great shoe manufactories will 
convince one that it is useless to expect anything 
like thoroughness and durability in the work that 
comes from them. They consume only the lowest 
grades of leather. The art of working in all sorts 
of fragments and remnants is carried to an unenvi- 
able perfection. The whole study is, not to produce 
a good article, but to make one that is inferior and 
nearly worthless resemble genuine shoe-making, and 
pass for it in the market. It is impossible to make 
machine sewing; as strons: and durable as that done 
by hand ; yet all the sewing is done by machine. 
The onl}^ admirable thing about the pegging ma- 
chines is the rapidity with which they perform, and 
the deceitful regularity of their work. In a month 
of constant wear, a pair of these machine shoes be- 
gins to come in pieces. The stitching rips, the pegs 
begin to draw, and if taken to a cobbler he will cast 
them aside with contempt, and say they are not 



314 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

M-(H-tli mending. It is far better to pay a good price 
for good Icatlicr, and have it well made up by a 
conscitiiitious and thorough 'woikman. You pay 
half as much more, or twice as much, may be, as 
for slop work, and the boots or shoes will give yovt 
six months of constant service ; and then with mod- 
erate repairs will be of use two or three months 
longer. In this way the best of French calf may 
be worn with truer economy, and far more satisfac- 
tion, than any of the cheap, spongy, rough, and 
scalded qualities of leather. 

There is as much contrast between the best of 
French leather and the common American stocks as 
between a linen iishing-line and the paper twine with 
which your grocer wraps up a pound of sugar. 

The chief reason of this diflerence is found in the 
time occupied in the tanning process. In America 
the skin that was taken from a calf in the spring 
will, by the following winter, be made into shoes. 
In France, it would be left to soak in the vats two, 
three, or five years. 

In this country we cannot afford to wait so long ; 
we must turn over our capital and realize the profit 
on an investment. Yet there is very good leather 
made in this country, and everj^ first-class shoe- 
maker has, or can obtain for a customer who requires 
it, a satisfactory article. Xo sensible mother, who 



ECONOMIES OF DRESS. 315 

hiis taken the trouble to inform herself, will be con- 
tent with anything less than the best, after she has 
once liad it on her children's feet. 

Almost as much depends on the care taken of 
leather, as on original differences in quality. Shoes 
should be made up some time before they are to be 
worn. As soon as they are brought into the house 
smear them thoroughly, on the soles as well as on 
the uppers, with a preparation made as follows : 
Take One pint of linseed oil, 
Two ounces of beeswax, 
One ounce of Burgundy pitch, 
A table-spoonful of lamp-black. 
Melt together over a slow fire, and stir frequently. 
Three or four successive coats of this mixture should 
be applied, and a day allowed for each coat to dry 
in thoroughly. When shoes or boots are worn in the 
snow, and particularly in the spring in melting 
snow, a little of this dressing should be applied 
daily, or as often as the least rawness of the leather 
appears. 

Woollens and silks, after they are faded, can often 
be colored, and continue to be of great service. Old 
domestic can also be colored and used as linings. 
There are for sale, at moderate prices, assortments 
of dye poAvders, with minute instructions as to their 
use. 



316 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

The following recijjes are simple and the materi- 
uls easily obtained. « 

To Dye a Slate Color. — Boil green chestnut 
bark an hour. Take out the bark and add four 
ounces of green vitriol to one pound of woollen yarn 
or cloth. Stir frequently one hour and dry the arti- 
cles before washing. 

Hutternut Dye. — Soak butternut bark in warm 
water for some time. Wash the cloth to be colored, 
and be sure to remove all grease spots ; rinse in 
clear water two or three times ; put the articles 
while wet in the dye, which should be hot, but not 
boiling ; lift up and press down frequently, for say 
half an hour, till the desired color is produced. 
Dry before washing. It produces diifercnt shades 
of color in diifercnt seasons of the year. Press on 
wrong side and iron dry. 

To give Silk or Wool an Orange Color. — Boil 
the skins of ripe onions half an hour. Take them 
out and add an ounce of alum to a quart of dye. 
Put in the silk or woollen ; stir often for half an 
hour. Dry, wash in clean ^vater and iron when 
damp. 

To Dye Black. — Take six cents' worth (two 
ounces) of extract of logwood, one ounce of blue 
vitriol, put each separately in six quarts of w^ater, — > 
the logwood in an iron vessel, the vitriol in brass. 



economip:s of dress. 317 

Bring both to a boiling heat ; dip the cloth into the 
vitri(51-water first, then into the logwood-water, then 
alternately from one into the other till it has been 
dipped in each three times. Then dry, and Avash 
in strons; suds and rinse in soft cold water and 
press when damp. This coloring is proper for 
lace, silk, worsted, and cotton, and does not fade. 

Deejp Blue. — To a common indigo dye add a 
tablespoonful of madder to one ounce of indigo. 

Silh a rich Brown. — Boil chipped logwood in 
pure w^ater one hour. Put in the silk and stir fre- 
quently for half an hour. Dry, wash in strong 
soap-suds and iron when damp. 

To Color ivith Tea. — Boil a tablespoonful of tea 
in two quarts of water. Dissolve a bit of copi^eras 
as large as a walnut in a quart of water. Dip the 
articles into the copperas-water first, and then into 
the tea and let them remain, lifting them up and 
down frequently until the color is as deep as you 
wish it to be. Hang out to dry, and iron w^hile 
damp. It produces a pale slate color and is suit- 
able for cither cotton or woollen. 
27* 



■318 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

INFANCY. 

Theke is many a draught of sweetness in the 
mingled chalice of life ; some hours of perfect happi- 
ness given to woman to cheer and strengthen her 
along the dusty thoroughfare of existence ; many a 
beam "ot purest ray serene," to illumine the dark- 
ness which at times shrouds every human path^vay ; 
but she who has passed through life without know- 
in2r the unutterable blessedness of maternal love has 
missed the most delicious draught ever pressed to 
the lips of woman. The deep, unconscious delights 
of a joyous childhood may have been hers ; she 
may rejoice in the rich endowments of rare woman- 
hood, fortunate alike in the bloom of its May-time 
and in its autumnal fulness ; the sweet charities of 
daughter, sister, Avife, may make her life a happy 
one ; but if the crowning grace and joy of mother- 
hood is not given to her she goes to her grave Avith- 
out having won the tirst honors on the arena of the 
world, Avithout a taste of life's richest and reddest 
wine. 

For the happiness of every woman Avho may con- 
sult these pages, the author may here be allowed to 



INFANCY. 319 

express the wish that she may turn to this chapter 
with a motive deeper and more earnest than mere 
curiosity. "When she feels that the comfort and 
well-beinsr of the sweet little creature entrusted to 
her care is entirely dependent upon her own skill 
and knowledge of its requirements ; when she real- 
izes that an error of judgment or the lack of the 
knowledge required in a special emergency may en- 
tail a life-long sorrow upon her own heart, and make 
existence but a heritage of pain to her offspring ; 
with what deep and studious solicitude will she re- 
sort to every source from which the all-important 
instruction may be obtained ! 

Suppose, for instance, the young mother falls into 
that very natural and frequent error of supposing 
tliat the first sign of discomfort that a babe exhib- 
its, the first wail that conies from the darkened 
chamber, is an indication of hunger, and crams the 
little stomach with food not supplied by nature. 
Does she in this commit the simple error of over- 
feeding a child? Far graver. Nature, Aviser than 
any art, has in most cases provided a slender but 
sufficient supply for the very small demands of in- 
fantile life at this early stage. 

Within the first three days, when the tiny stranger 
requires scarce anything but sleep and quiet, she 
may lay the foundation for an infancy tormented by 



320 THE PHILOSOPHY or HOUSE-KEEPING. 

colic, and a mature life cursed "with dyspepsia. 
Every physician who has been much in families will 
testify that Avhcre one has, during these first days 
of life, suffered for lack of nourishment, ten have 
been injured by over-feeding. 

So deep and constant is the anxiety that springs 
up in the mother's breast, and ever keeps pace with 
her love, that it is very uncommon for infants to 
suffer on account of nec^lect. The danger is not 
from doing too little, but from doing too much. 
There is many a grave, no more than a span in 
length, decked Avith white roses and pansies, and 
marked by a tiny slab, where if the true epitaph 
were recorded we should read the words, — "lAiIIeli 
initl) lunlincss." Many a child is rendered peevish 
and sickly by the natural effect of perpetual anxiety 
and worry on the part of the mother. 

Let the mother remember that the law of the 
child's being is growth, and that the infant itself 
will, by the tone of its wail, if she can but under- 
stand it, and maternal love makes her ear very 
quick, indicate its real wants. The cry as often 
proceeds from a bandage too tight, from slight over- 
feeding, from the prick of some malicious pin, from 
remaining too long in one position, or some other 
slight discomfort, as from hunger, and no treatment 
can be more ill-judged or more injurious than to 



INFANCY. 321 

cram food into a stomach, already perhaps over- 
loaded, in the hope of quieting the child. The 
mere act of crying is not injurious to an infant, un- 
less it is excessive and prolonged, and if the mother 
notices every note of discomfort, the child will soon 
learn to exact mere attention and tending than are 
really beneficial to it. When all its wants are sup- 
plied, unless it exhibit signs of illness, let not the 
mother be worried if the baby still frets. It is as 
important for the well-being of the child that the 
mother preserve an equable and cheerful frame of 
mind, as it is that its clothing should be properly 
attended to, or its hunger satisfied. The crying of 
a young infant is frequently caused by improper 
food eaten by the mother ; by her drinking exces- 
sively of cold water ; by her exposure to opposite 
degrees of temperature ; by anxiety, anger, fear, or 
over-work. The same principle that applies to all 
lactiferous animals, applies equally well to the mother, 
whose breast furnishes a babe its natural and most 
perfect aliment. Where cows are kept for dairy 
purposes only, great care is taken by the skilful 
dairyman that they be provided with an abundance 
of rich, juicy food, plenty of water, and, in particu- 
lar, that they suffer no hardships, annoyance, or un- 
kind treatment, as this will inevitably diminish the 
quantity and deteriorate the quality of their milk. 



322 TIIK rilTLOSOTMIV OF IIOUSK-KEKPIXG. 

For llic same reasons must llio mother care for her 
physical well-1:)eing, since any departure from the 
laws of health ■will immediately show itself in the 
effect of her milk upon the child. 

The following table ^hows the composition of 
cow's milk and woman's milk, according to Ilad- 
lein's analysis : — 

Cow's Milk. Woman's Milk. 

Butter, 3.0 2.35 

Sugar of milk and salts soluble in 

alcohol, 4.6 3.75 

Caseine and insoluble salts, 5.1 2.90 

Water, 87.3 90.50 

The following arc analyses l)y Henry and Cheva- 
lier : — 

Cow's Milk. AVoman's Milk. 

Butter, 3.13 3.55 

Milk Sugar, 4.47 G.50 

Caseine, 4.48 1.52 

Salts, CO .45 

Water, 87.02 87.98 

By examining these tables, it will be seen that 
cow's milk contains far more caseine or curd than 
woman's milk, somewhat more butter, and consider- 
ably less sugar. If, therefore, the mother must call 
in the assistance of the cow in nourishing her 
young, she nnist cause such alterations in the milk 
as to make it most resemble woman's milk. This 
is done by adding to coav's milk Avater and sugar, 
thus decreasing the proportion of curd in a given 



INTANCY. 323 

quantity of the diluted milk, and increasing that of 
sugar. For a very young child, let four tablespoon- 
fuls of water be added to one of milk, and if cream 
is used instead of milk, as is practised by man}^ 
judicious mothers, add proportionately more water, 
according to the richness of the cream, remembering 
that it is better to add too much water than too little. 
If the mother always prepares her babe's food her- 
self, and is careful to observe how it is digested, 
she will soon learn just what agrees best with the 
tender stomach of her infant and how to adapt food 
to its requirements. If milk cannot be obtained, as 
occurs at some seasons of the year in the -country, 
water in which cracker or good -wheat bread has 
been soaked with sugar added to it is very nutritive 
and digestible. Hear Dr. Pereira on this point : 
" As milk is the only food furnished by nature for 
the growth of the young child, it is found to con- 
tain all the elements necessary for the nutrition and 
irrowth of the body. Out of the curd of the milk 
are formed the albumen and fibrine of the blood, 
and the muscles and sinews. The butter serves for 
the formation of fat, and contributes wilh the sugar 
to support the animal heat, by yielding carbon and 
hydrogen- to be burnt in the lungs. The earthy 
salts are necessary for the development of the osse 
ous system ; the iron is required for the blood cor- 



324 THE PIIILOSOriLY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

puscles and the hair ; while the alkaline chloride 
furnishes the hydrochloric acid of the gastric 
juice." 

Arrow-root, tapioca, sago, potato starch, sugar, 
butter, and other fatty bodies go to produce heat in 
the lungs, and fat ; but they do not contain the ele- 
ments of Iwnc, muscle, ligament, and cellular tissue 
"which are found in the curd of milk, and are conse- 
quently less suited to the wants of the infant stomach 
than food made from the cereal grains, as wheat, 
barley, and oats. 

As the child grows older it may have its milk 
thickened with a little wheat flour, and as its teeth 
increase in number its food should be gradually 
changed from fluid to solid. Broth and soup, des- 
titute of oil, may be given it, thickened with rice 
or bread. Potato is always a safe and healthy food 
for quite young children ; but it should bo mealy, 
and thoroughly mashed and moistened Avith a little 
cream or milk. As the habits of activity increase, 
the food should be more and more nitrogenous or 
muscle-making. Of this class of foods the lean and 
red parts of beef and mutton, the dark flesh of fowls, 
and eggs, are best. The subject of children's food 
is treated in chapter thirteen of this volume. 

The dress of an infant should be simple and per- 
fectly comforta1)le, preserving uniformity of temper- 



INFANCY. 325 

aturc over the -whole body us far as possible. Let 
a bandage of soft flannel be snugly pinned about 
the abdomen, reaching to the hips. It should be 
tight enough to prevent rupture of those parts from 
crying, and yet not obstruct the circulation, or 
cause the infant any discomfort. Over this put a 
shirt of knit lamb's wool (directions for knitting 
one will be found at the end of this chapter) , or of 
soft flannel. Then come the foot-blanket and the 
long flannel skirt ; over all a slip of white muslin. 
For very young babies, dresses with belts are in- 
convenient and unsuitable. Let the slip be made 
with a band about the neck, and flow loosely down. 
It is the fashion for babies to wear low-necked 
dresses and short sleeves ; but opposed to this, as 
well as to many other absurd and wicked fashions, 
which destroy the health and lives of women and 
children, the almost unanimous opinion of the med- 
ical profession is, that babies should have their 
necks and arms protected with flannel. Passing at 
once from a climate of tropical warmth, where the 
thermometer never ranges below 98°, how can the 
little creatures resist the cold of a Labrador? It 
is very difficult to keep one's room always at the 
same degree of heat, or to avoid draughts and sud- 
den changes of temperature ; therefore let the tender 
human bud be so protected that its lifo and health 
28 



326 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

may not be at the mercy of ohancc or a careless 
nurse. Sacks may be made of rose or sabiion col- 
ored merino, or knit of zephyr or lamb's wool, that 
will be at once tasteful and warm. It will be far 
better for both mother and child to be Avarmly clad, 
and let the temperature of the room be moderate 
rather than the reverse. An atmosphere above 70° 
is less conducive to vigorous health than one at or 
below that point. 

The utmost care must be taken that at all times 
the clothinir of an infant be kept scrupulously clean. 
All wet and soiled clothes shoukl be removed, and 
the whole body be bathed thoroughly in tepid water 
at least once in every twenty-four hours. If the 
whole head and f;ice be first wet, the baby will not 
complain so much of cold or chilliness. Fine, 
pleasant soap should be used, and, if at any point 
the tender skin is reddened or chafed, a little corn 
starch or rice flour will remove the difficulty. After 
the bath, let the surfoce be thoroughly dried, and 
then with the hand rub the body and limbs until 
Ihey are warm and rosy. This will promote the 
circulation and give strength and vigor to the child. 
Then, when it is dressed, let it have a full supply 
of food and be kiid in the cradle for a long morning 
nap, during which the mother may have quite an 
interval to devote to domestic affairs. If the 



INFANCY. 327 

■weather permits, let the morning walk precede 
the iiap, and be as regularly taken as the skies will 
allow. 

Many mothers have' an idea that babies must on 
no account be permitted to breathe the open air, 
and so the little innocents are kept shut up in close 
rooms, with double windows and an air-tight stove 
or hot-air furnace, and, as an English writer vigor- 
ously expresses himself, they fear the sweet breath 
of heaven " as though it was laden with the poppies 
of eternal sleep." 

Errors of this sort are most frequently committed 
by those who have buried young children. The 
infant should certainly be protected from cold, but 
it should as sedulously be guarded from impure air, 
and supplied with that Avhich is wholesome and 
fresh. Those little lungs have just commenced 
their action ; the blood, when it begins to circulate, 
if the mother is healthy, is entirely pure ; and the 
most perfect pictures of absolute health that we ever 
meet with in this world are seen in cradles and in 
nurseries, before the anxieties of life, the wear of 
the passions, and the waste of the brain have abated 
the pristine vigor of the constitution. What in- 
justice, then, what unspeakable damage and detri- 
ment does the mother impose upon her olFspring by 
refusing the opportunity to keep that blood pure 



328 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

and normal ! What seeds of disease arc thus im- 
planted at the threshold of life ! 

As soon as children are old enough to run about, 
if their natural activity is not cruelly restrained, 
they will, to a great extent, take care of themselves 
in this respect, and be certain to have enough fresh 
air. It is for the little ones that we plead, — the 
nurslings who sleep in cradles, and who have no 
voice but a cry, — the innocents, the darlings ; and we 
say to the over-anxious mother, who will not allow 
a breeze of even summer air to blow through her 
nursery, that by running clear of Scylla she is cer- 
tain to plunge into Chary bdis ; the child may be 
screened from the efiects of cold, but at such a loss 
of vigor and elasticity that the first onset of disease 
of any kind will pierce to the vital centre, and lay 
the bud, wilted and crushed, in an untimely grave. 

Very few children in this country, except in 
poverty-stricken families, sutler for want of food. 
Thousands, tens of thousands, die annually from the 
lack of flannel and fresh air. Many a tender- 
hearted mother, who would cry her eyes out if she 
thought her child did not have enough to eat, will 
yet innocentl}' take its life by defrauding it of the 
other requisites of healthful life, the ^\o()llen gar- 
ments and the vital air. 

All human beings, from the cradle, are creatures 



INFANCY. 329 

of routine, and no service can be of more impor- 
tance to a child than to impress upon it good phys- 
ical habits at an early stage in its existence. This 
regularity of habits is, moreover, a great con- 
venience to the mother. Let the child have stated 
times for eating, sleeping, bathing, and taking the 
air. Thus, for instance, in mild weather, Avhile the 
mother is busy, as every good housewife must be, 
with morning duties, let the baby ride in its car- 
riage in the open air, or be carried in the arms of a 
nurse or older sister. After breakfast let the mother 
bathe the child, feed it, put it for a while in the 
open air, and then lay it in the cradle for a long 
forenoon sleep. This routine once established can 
easily be kept up, and conduces greatly to the vigor 
and cheerfulness of the child. So also, in the after 
part of the day, let the evening walk, the food, and 
the length of the afternoon nap be so regulated 
that the infant will be sleepy at dark in summer and 
at six-o'clock in winter, and be undressed and put 
asleep at a prescribed time. There is no need of 
an hours annoyance with rocking, and pacing the 
nursery floor, and lullabies, and perhaps Mrs. Wins- 
low's soothing syrup, in order to secure quiet at 
the right time and for the night, if the mother will 
begin betimes to train her baby into proper habits. 

The first disorder that disturbs the quiet of the 

28* 



330 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

nursery is gcnenilly the colic, uiid this will bo ul- 
niost sure to visit the baby if during the first three 
daj'S of its life it luis suilered from over-feeding. 
Some children are constantly tormented with colic 
for the first three or four months of their life, but 
probably a proper attention to clothing and food 
from the beginning Avill prevent these unpleasant 
visitations. Simple remedies will frequently re- 
move the malady. Give the baby two or three tea- 
spoonfuls of hot water, with a little sugar in it. 
Place a warm flannel over the bowels, and be sure 
that the feet and hands are warm. Colic is often 
caused in infants simply by cold extremities. oNIove 
the child gently, pressing the warm hand over the 
bowels so as to disengajife the wind in its stomach, 
if possible. If this fails, a few teaspoonfuls of 
warm catnip tea may be effectual. A teaspoonful 
of gin mixed with three or four of hot water will 
sometimes relieve. A warm foot-bath gives ease to 
the little sufferer, or an injection of warm water. 
And here it may ho proper to remark, that every 
mother should be provided with a small syringe, so 
that if her baby has irregularities in its daily pas- 
sages, she may relieve any temporary constipation by 
an injection of warm water with a little sweet oil or 
soap in it. This is far better than to drench its 
stomach Avith castor-oil. If the baby still cries from 



n 



INFANCY. 331 

colic or some oilier cause, by no meaus give it pare- 
goric : this most noxious druof should be banished 
from the nursery, and counted among medicines to 
be administered only under the advice of a physi- 
cian. The influence of any preparation of opium 
upon the brain of an infant is very deleterious, and 
many a mother who relies upon poppy-leaf tea or 
the paregoric bottle to quiet her crying child, Avill 
do it a far less injury if she suffers it to cry itself 
still than by administering a drop of what the great 
opium-eater himself calls "angelic poison." If the 
mother has been exposed to great extremes of tem- 
perature, as for instance, going from a Avarmroom 
into a cold one and becoming chilled, or if in sum- 
mer she has drank freely of ice-water, or eaten too 
much sour fruit, or other unwholesome vegetables, 
or heated her milk by over- exertion, she must ex- 
pect her baby to cry. 

One of the earliest maladies that afflict little babies 
is the snuffles, or difficulty of breathing through the 
nose, caused by a slight cold iu the head. A simple 
remedy, and one that will usually be found effective, 
is a liniment made of two parts of sweet oil and one 
of S[)irits of hartshorn mixed together. Rub the 
liniment under and upon the baby's nose, and let it 
breathe the ammonia a little through its nostrils, but 
not enough to produce strangling. This will gen- 



832 THE rillLOSOPIIY OF IIOUSE-KEEPIXG. 

erully relievo alnio.st imiiiediately. This liniment is 
also excellent to remove all irritation and soreness 
or swelling caused by the bites of mosquitoes, wasps, 
or other poisonous insects, and should always be 
kept in the nursery closet. 

If the lungs of the baby are affected by cold, and 
it coughs much, gi^'c it five or six drops of syrup 
of ipecac in a little water. This is a dose for a 
baby two or three months old, and should bo re- 
peated every three hours until the cough is relieved. 
Where the cold becomes well seated and congestion 
threatens to take place, the following mode of treat- 
ment will be found effective. It was practically 
tested in the family of the author, a few months 
since, Avith the happiest results. This treatment 
was originally prescribed by one of the most emi- 
nent physicians on this continent, and it is so simple 
thtit any mother may apply it. 

The little patient was only two months old, and 
during a long, severe spell of wintry weather a deep 
cold settled on her luns^s, and thev became some- 
what congested. The family physician was called 
in, and prescribed a shirt made of oiled silk reaching 
from the neck to the knees, with sleeves of the 
same material extending Lolow the elbow, and a 
plaster of mustard and flour in about equal propor- 
tions, wet with water, and extending around the 



INFANCY. 3C3 

entire body. This ^vas kept on until the little suf- 
ferer showed signs of great uneasiness, when it was 
removed. At the same time seven drops of syrup 
of ipecac in a little water were administered to the 
patient, and her feet placed in hot water for fifteen 
minutes. A blanket was spread all around mother's 
lap, in which the baby sat, and the foot-tub, to keep 
in all the heat and the steam, and prevent the air 
from coming at all in contact Avith the exposed sur- 
faces. The ipecac and the foot-baths were given 
every three hours-, day and night, and the mustard 
plaster was put on when the cough became at all 
worse, Avhich it generally did towards morning. 
The little patient was kept in the same room all the 
time, and as equable a temperature as possible pre- 
served day and night. After a day or two a small 
bit of soda, half as large as a peppermint drop, was 
dissolved in half a glass of water, and the ipecac 
given in a little of this water. This corrected the 
acidity produced in the stomach of the infant by the 
syrup, so that no derangement of the bowels re- 
sulted. This treatment was found entirely success- 
ful, and, as health returned, the foot-baths and ipecac 
were given at longer intervals, until the}^ were dis- 
continued altogether. The little silk shirt was kept 
on until at length it began to drop to joieces, and 
was then taken off. 



334 THE riiiLosoriiY of house-keeping. 

In whooping cough, these remedies are probably 
as good as any that can be used. Let the foot-baths 
and ipecac be given at intervals of three hours dur- 
ing the day, and particularly at night, when the 
child is put to sleep, and the silk shirt be Avoni as 
long as the cough continues. In an ordinary cough 
the foot-baths Avill always be of benefit, and may 
cure Avithout other remedies, and if the infant is dis- 
posed to be restless and sleepless they will soothe 
and quiet. 

Infants who are nourished at the breast of a 
healthy mother seldom have derangements of the 
bowels, except when teething, while those Avho use 
the bottle or spoon will frequently sutler from acidity 
of the stomach, and consequent irregularity. The 
proper remedy here is to remove the cause. Let 
the milk the infant drinks be thoroughly scalded, 
and the bottle or cup be entirely sweet, and the 
process of digestion will become normal and proper 
again. In warm weather, especially, the mother 
will carefully guard the child from drinking milk 
that is not perfectly sweet. Many people are not 
aware that milk just on the point of turning sour is 
less wholesome than that which has become a little 
acid. 

During the process of cutting teeth, all children 
suffer more or less, and require constant attention 



INFANCY. 335 

to keep them in good health. Let the infant be kept 
perfectly clean, if possible, and pass many hours 
every day in the open air ; let its milk, if it requires 
to be fed, be scalded, and let it sleep sufficiently, 
and be amused when it is awake. If its bowels are 
loose, a teaspoonful of chalk mixture, or of spiced 
syrup of rhubarb, is always harmless, and gener- 
ally proves effective. These ma}^ be procured at any 
apothecary's, but must be purchased in small quan- 
tities, as they are apt to sour and arc then worthless. 
In the country, where wood is used as fuel, a very 
excellent tea, both for mother and child, may be 
made of soot. Take the sweepings of the chimney, 
or soot from the stove-pipe, pour scalding water on 
it, strain and sweeten, and you Avill have quite 
a palatable drink, which is at once tonic and cor- 
rective. 

The young mother, in her anxiety to do every- 
thing for her babe, will be told of some new remedy, 
by every visitor, for any little malady the child may 
be suffering from, and there may be made a dozen 
prescriptions for the same thing. She will hear of 
snakeroot, and bayberry, and chamomile, of penny- 
royal, ginseng, and lobelia; and all these may be 
very good at the proper time ; but let her beware 
how she drenches the stomach of her infant with 



336 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

hcrb-tca, and doses it uilh nostrums at the recom- 
mendation of every chance visitor. 

AVho has not noticed the newly married woman, 
while yet the flush of bridal happiness is upon her 
brow and in her eye, quietly embroidering the edge 
of a piece of flannel, working the border of a tiny 
shirt, or knitting a liliputian sock ! If any such 
young expectant mother, about to have the J03' of 
the nursery superadded to the delight of the wife, 
is reading this nineteenth chapter of our treatise, 
she ma}' deem it a favor to know precisely Avhat 
articles of Avardrobc the little stranger will require 
upon its fir&t advent into this breathing world. She 
may expend a large amount upon the infantile ward- 
robe, or she may, by the exercise of skill and taste, 
provide one ample and suitable at a small expense. 
We suggest only the articles that a baby must have 
to be comfortable ; to these the mother will add, as 
her means will allow. Two flannel pinning or foot 
blankets, three-quarters of a 3'ard in length, and 
laid in plaits at one end for five inches, so as to form 
a waist or band ; two flannel skirts, three-quarters 
of a yard long, and with bands of linen or cotton 
five fingers long. In the front of this band plaits 
may be laid so as to reduce its size until the infant 
grows to require the full length. It will take four 
yards and a half of flannel for these, and another 



INFANCY, 337 

half yard will make two bands for the lower part of 
the baby's body. 

The little dresses should be six in number, a yard 
in length, and made of dimity, nainsook, or cross- 
barred muslin. Let them be simple in their make, 
with a band at the neck, and little sleeves inserted. 
Two yards will make a dress, 

The sacks should be of soft blue or rose-colored 
flannel or merino, and delicately embroidered on the 
edge. A j^ard will make two, or they may be 
crocheted or knit of zephyr or lamb's wool. Let 
there be three or four night-wrappers, high in the 
neck, and with long sleeves. Two or three calico 
double wrappers will be found very serviceable ; let 
them be cut sack-shaped, and button up to the 
throat. Two yards of fine flannel, a yard in width, 
will make a couple of blankets. In cold weather 
two or three pairs of socks may be added, accord- 
ing to the taste and circumstances of the family. 
Two or three dozen napkins or diapers will be 
indispensable ; if purchased new, let them be huck- 
aback or Russia, twice their width in length, and 
hemmed at each end. 

Three yards of blue or scarlet flannel, or all-wool 
de-laines, lined with the same amount of white flan- 
nel, will make a cloak, which may have a little hood 
of the same material fastened into the band around 
29 



338 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

the neck, in the shape of a red riding-hood. This 
will aHow the child to be taken out into the open 
air. 

With an. outfit such as has been described a child 
may be kept perfectly clean and comfortable. 
Cleanliness and sweetness in a baby should always 
be placed higher than embroideries. Let the flan- 
nel be washed frequently, if need be, and the dresses 
snowy. One of the first difiiculties that an inexpe- 
rienced house-keeper meets with is in the discolor- 
ation and shrinking of her baby flannels ; indeed, it 
is true of most flannels that they are seldom washed 
in the best manner. The following mode of cleans- 
ing them has been tested, and found eminently suc- 
cessful. For convenience, I have arranged the 
directions in three rules : — 

1st. Never apply soap directly to any woollen 
fabric. Make a strong hot suds and plunge the 
garment in it. 

2d. Never dip a flannel in cold, or even cool 
water, but always in hot. Wash first in hot suds, 
and rinse in hot water made very blue. 

3d. Dry flannels as quickly as possible. Wring 
dry from the second water, and hang either in the 
hot sun or before a brisk fire. When nearly dry, 
press with hot iron. It may also be remarked 
that none but soft water should be used upon flan- 



INFANCY. 339 

nels, and resin soap is much inferior to common soft 
soap, as it hardens the fibres of -woollen. 

RULE FOR KNITTING A BABY's SHIRT. 

Cast eighty-one stitches on small bone needles, — 
lamb's wool is preferred, — and to enlarge add ten 
stitches for every scallop. At the beginning of 
every row knit two together and three plain. Then 
from this point, which we mark K., knit the rest of 
the needle. Make one, knit one, make one, knit 
three plain, narrow twice, knit two plain. Repeat 
from R to the end of the needle, always ending with 
a narrowed stitch. Repeat these rows, or knit 
across in this manner thirteen times, then rib two 
and two for forty-three rows. Knit one row plain ; 
next row knit one stitch ; put the thread over twice 
and narrow the next two stitches ; put thread over 
twice, and so on through ; knit two plain rows and 
finish oS. 

This makes one side ; knit the other in the same 
manner, and sew them togetlier. 

For the sleeve, cast on forty-one stitches ; knit 
one row plain, one seam, another seam ; then begin 
the pattern as in the shirt, knit four rows without 
narrowing at the cnas, a plain row, then holes as in 
the shirt, and bind ofi". When the shirt is made up 



340 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

a white ribbon may be run through the holes round 
the top of the shirt and tied in front. 

The mother will find it very convenient to be 
supplied with a basket, especially devoted to the 
infantile toilet. Any common basket, of a pleasant 
size, may be covered with muslin ; have a little paste- 
board box fastened to one side and contain a pin- 
cushion, a sponge, a cake of fine soap, a starch bag, 
and a soft brush. In the basket may be laid at 
night the clothes as they are taken from the baby, 
so that at the morning bath the mother will have 
only to get the basket to be all read}^ to make the 
infant's toilet for the day. 

Above everything, and of vastly more importance 
than all the herbs and all the embroideries, let the 
spirit of the mother be perpetually joyous and 
serene ; her temper unclouded sunshine, — perennial 
June. Thus will the starry calmness of her soul 
find a perfect mirror in those wells of fathomless 
joy and love, the all-sunny eyes of her happy 
child. 

Accepted in this spirit, motherhood becomes, not 
a burden to be unstrapped, like a soldier's knap- 
sack, at the first halting-place ; not a thing for com- 
miseration and sufierance and protest ; but the 
sweetest, the tcndcrcst, the holiest of earthly ties. 



DOMESTIC HVGIENEI 341 



CHAPTER XX. 

DOMESTIC HYGIENE. 

In these latter days of science and the general 
diffusion of all useful knowledge, it may be presumed 
thJrt every housewife will be acquainted with those 
primary and fundamental laws of health which re- 
late to food, clothing, ventilation, and cleanliness. 
Ignorance of the laws of nature on these subjects is 
a radical defect, for which she may suffer the loss 
of health herself, or the loss of lives dearer than her 
own. It is not proposed in this chapter to set forth 
anything new or original, but simply to give, in a 
compact and practical form, the results of the best 
wisdom of modern times on these subjects. In pre- 
vious chapters the whole question of food and of 
clothing has been so fully treated that in this con- 
nection these topics may be dismissed with a few 
summary directions. 

As regards food, it may be said that hygiene re- 
quires that it should be suited to the age and 
employment of the different members of the family, 
carefully selected and skilfully prepared ; that, as 
all food is divided into muscle-making and heat- 
producing constituents, the proportions of the food 
29* 



342 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

of each kind should lie blended according to the 
necessities of the family and the season of the year; 
a larger proportion of oily substances being fur- 
nished in winter, and the vegetable and farinaceous 
viands predominating in summer. 

In regard to clothing, Ave have seen that for the 
immediate covering of the skin no material is so 
■wholesome as flannel ; and that other parts of tbc 
dress should be carefully varied, to correspond with 
changes of temperature and moisture. 

The proper ventilation of the rooms in constant 
family use is a matter of the most vital importance. 
Carelessness and ftiilurc here will inevitably result 
in the slow but certain and fatal undermining of the 
health of the family, and especially of its younger 
and more delicate members, who, during the most 
of the cold season, are within doors. Let it be con- 
stantly borne in mind that an adult person consumes 
air at the average rate of three hundred cubic feet 
per hour. As an illustration, confine a man to an 
apartment of the usual dimensions of a bedroom, — 
say twelve by fifteen, and eight feet high, — and 
suppose the external air perfectly excluded. In 
about five hours he would breathe over all the air 
of the room, and the whole -would be infected with 
carbonic acid gas, evolved in the process of respira- 
tion. If he still continues to breathe this noxious 



DOMESTIC HYGIENE. 343 

air, he will be coustantly taking back into his lungs 
the poisonous gas which it is the office of these or- 
gans to separate from the blood and throw off. The 
first effect of this slow poisoning will be drowsiness, 
followed by headache, utter prostration of the 
strength and spirits, and finally by dealh. The 
reason why results so appalling seldom or never 
oc«ir in ordinary life is because our rooms are 
never air-tight, and, by the opening of doors and 
the infiltration of pure air through the crevices, the 
noxious atmosphere is to a greater or less extent 
purified. 

A few evenings since the writer called upon a 
neighbor, and found a family of five assembled in a 
sitting-room of moderate proportions and low ceil- 
ing. As the night was somewhat cool, a fire had 
been made in an air-tight, cast-iron stove, the 
damper of which w^as closed, as well as all the 
doors and windows of the room. One member of 
the family w-as suffering from a very violent cold. 
The immediate effect upon entering this apartment 
was a feelinof of suflbcation, and thougfh I had ji'oue 
with the intention of passing the evening, I had 
not been seated ten minutes before I be2:an to 
cast about in my mind for some excuse for leav- 
ing. In fifteen minutes I began to have all the 
symptoms of a violent cold, and the friend who 



344 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

went with mo was similarly affected. In short, the 
room to lis, who came from Avell-veutilated apart- 
meuts and the open air, was simply intolerable, and 
we improved the first opportunity to make our escape 
from an atmosphere so loaded with carbonic acid 
gas as to be really poisonous. 

This is by no means an exceptional case. In a 
small room, heated by a close stove, the tendency 
to this noxious condition of the atmosphere is so 
great as to require vigilant attention. 

Suppose a child living constantly in a room as 
close as the one described above, of an age so ten- 
der as not to be trusted away from the eye of its 
mother. What now must be the physiological 
effect? Breathing always a vitiated air, its blood 
never becomes really jDurified by the contact of a 
proper amount of oxygen in the air-cells of the 
lungs. Thus circulating, even with the vital fluid, 
is the poison which the lungs would throw off in a 
purer air and the poison which the child constantly 
inhales from the noxious air in which it lives. All 
the functions of the body must suffer. The child 
will become "delicate," which is only another name 
for sickly. Should an acute disease attack it, as 
croup, scarlet fever, or diphtheria, which maladies 
are invited by such a course of treatment, the phy- 
sician finds no constitutional vigor upon which to 



DOMESTIC HYGIENE. 345' 

operate with his remedies, and all the probabilities 
are against recovery. Every intelligent physician 
can cite cases that occur in his daily practice, where 
the fatal result can be directly traced to the causes 
above described. Many a heart-broken mother 
mourns over Avhat she calls the mysterious and, 
inscrutable dispensations of Divine Providence, 
wh^i, in fact, it was mistaken tenderness and ig- 
norance of the fundamental laws of health which 
have left her childless. 

I have a friend, of much more than ordinary intel- 
ligence and knowledge of books, whose maternal 
anxiety for her offspring seemed to be summed up 
in a fear of exposing them to fresh air, lest they 
should take cold. Though well formed at birth, 
and inheriting no distemper, none of her three chil- 
dren reached the as^e of five. No doubt exists in 
the minds of her friends that their lives were pre- 
maturely shortened by confinement in ill-ventilated 
apartments, and rigorous exclusion from the open 
air. 

Some thirty years ago a physician in the eastern 
part of Massachusetts, after losing his wife and sev- 
eral children by consumption, determined to rear 
the remaining daughter in a manner totally different 
from the fatal regime to which her elder sisters had 
been sacrificed. She had constitutional defects, and 



346 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

hereditary tendency to Avcakness of the lungs. He 
put her in a costume favorable to the utmost freedom 
of movement, and encouraged her to engage in all 
kinds of out-door sports. While the girls of her 
aire Avere bendins: over their tasks of algebra and 
French in a close school-room, she was romping in 
the -woods hunting squirrels, rowing on the lake, 
or swimming in its waters, riding horseback, •en- 
tering with zest into every species of athletic amuse- 
ment- 
Let us look, now, at the splendid result of this 
truly sensible mode of educating a delicate child. 

The tendency to consumption was quite eradi- 
cated. She grew to splendid and vigorous young 
womanhood, her mind and her spirits alike free, 
elastic, and joyous. The beautiful world of art at- 
tracted her ; she entered the lists of competition for 
the highest prizes of genius, and to-day America 
has not among her daughters a brighter name than 
that of Harriette Hosmer. 

There is no likelihood that the civilized world 
will ever return to the general use of the old open 
fiieplace. The economy and convenience of stoves 
and furnaces more than compensate, in the minds 
of most people, for the cheerful glow and free ven- 
tilation of the fireplace ; but it should be borne in 
mind that fiir greater care is now requisite to secure 



DOMESTIC HYGIENE. S4T 

the purity and Avholcsomencss of rooms heated by 
stoves or hot-air furnaces, than our ancestors -were 
called upon to observe. 

The problem in ventilation is how to introduce a 
sufficient amount of fresh air, and yet avoid sudden 
changes of temperature and the deleterious effect 
of exposure to draughts. Most colds are taken 
by the unequal exposure of different parts of the 
body to currents or jets of cold air. A column of 
air that can pass through the key-hole of a door, or 
through the crevices of a window, upon a person 
sitting in a warm room, will often lay the foundation 
of a disease which may result in death. 

Full exposure of the whole person in a cold at- 
mosphere seldom produces mischief; but any varia- 
tion of temperature which does not affect all parts 
of the body alike should be carefully guarded 
against. No question in architecture is more im- 
portant, and yet more troublesome, than how to 
secure a simple, inexpensive, and effective system 
of ventilation. This subject is more fully treated 
in the chapter on domestic architecture. 

Almost the whole business of the housewife may 
be said to consist in providing for and disposing of 
the waste of the body. When, for instance, she 
ventilates a room, she is merely getting rid of the 
effete particles of the blood thrown from the lungs 



348 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 



ill the process of respiration. This waste takes 
place constantly day and niglit. AVorn-out particles 
are all the time being removed and replaced. The 
frequent and thorougli removal of these particles of 
dead matter constitutes cleanliness, — a virtue "which 
ranks in the Bible next to godliness. 

The housewife should bear in mind that any arti- 
cle of clothing, and many pieces of furniture, such 
as carpets and curtains, are continually absorbing 
either sensible or insensible perspiration from human 
bodies, carbonic acid 2:as from the luniis, as avcU as 
odors produced by cooking and otlier household 
ofBces. Xo system of house-keeping can be pro- 
nounced thorough and complete, which does not 
provide for the removal of all these impurities. 

A department of household cleanliness Avhich is 
very much neglected, even by those Avho in other 
respects are good house-keepers, is the proper airing 
of bed-chambers and bed-clothing. The desire of 
a thrifty and energetic house-keeper, to have her 
rooms in order and the family work done up at an 
early hour in the day, causes her, througli mistaken 
notions of order and neatness, to allow far too little 
time for the effectual purifying of her beds and bed- 
clothing. 

When a bed-chamber is left in the morning, its 
window^s and doors should be thrown open, the 



DOMESTIC HYGIENE. .349 

blankets, coverlids, and counterpane so placed as to 
allow the freest access of' pure air to every part, so 
that the atoms of insensible perspiration, which 
have been absorbed durhig sleep, may be entirely 
purged and blown away. They should be left to 
this process for two or three hours. 

Then, as often as once in a week, bedding which 
is in constant use should be carried into the open 
air and exposed for half a day to the sun and the 
wind. Where a bedroom has southern or eastern 
exposure, which is very desirable, this may be clone 
by laying them over a chair near the window. Un- 
less bed-clothing is thus frequently and thoroughly 
aired, it becomes loaded with animal exhalations, 
unpleasant alike to the touch and the smell, render- 
ing sleep beneath them far less wholesome and 
refreshing. 

In like manner the rugs and carpeting of cham- 
bers, when of woollen materials, should b(^ frequently 
shaken and laid out for airino;. 

As the carbonated matter exhaled from the lunsrs 
is a little heavier than the air, it settles in a sleeping 
room, and is retained by any woollen substance with 
which it comes in contact. In this circumstance \\'e 
see the reason why it is better to sleep on beds that 
are raised some distance from the floor. The most 
perfect race of men, phj'sically, that ever lived upon 
30 



350 THE rillLOSOPIIY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

the planet, seem to have understood this matter, as 
well as the importance of frequent bathing ; for 
Homer, whenever he refers to the sleep of his Greek 
heroes, describes them as " ascending the perforated 
couch." 

Closely connected with cleanliness of the clothing 
and the bedding is the matter of personal cleanli- 
ness, which involves the subject of bathing. Bath- 
ing may be resorted to for the purpose of cleanliness 
alone, or for the tonic effect resulting from cold- 
water applications. When used for the former pur- 
pose, the frequency of washings must depend on the 
character of the daily employment, and the season 
of the year. As a general rule for cool weather, a 
full bath twice in a week will be found sufficient to 
secure the highest degree of health and comfort. 
As to whether cold or moderately warm water is the 
most conducive to health, no general rule can be 
indicated. The degree of animal warmth, and the 
power of reacting from the shock that cold water 
produces, as well as the natural fondness for water, 
are very difierent in persons of unbroken health. 
It may be said, in general, that we should never vio- 
late the instincts of nature in this respect ; that is, 
if a child or a grown person habitually shrinks from 
the application of cold water, they should be in- 



DOMESTIC HYGIENE. 851 

dulgecl in the use of water of .in agreeable temper- 
ature. 

Since the remarkable degree of attention that has 
been of late years devoted to this subject, there is 
danger of the too frequent use of cold water, es- 
pecially with young children. In washing babies 
and children under three, I am satisfied that nothing 
is gained by the use of cold water, unless it is par- 
ticularly prescribed by a judicious doctor. In the 
period of highest vigor, — between the years of, say, 
fifteen and thirty, — with most people there is a 
prompt reaction after cold bathing, and a delightful 
glow succeeds. "With such persons, the pleasurable 
sensation is such that the daily bath is not likely to 
be omitted. But where, for any reason, this agree- 
able animation and increased activity of the circula- 
tion does not follow cold bathing, tepid Avatcr should 
be used. 

After uncommon fatigue, or stress of mental ac- 
tivity, it will be found that a rapid bath with a rough 
towel, followed by brisk friction, is very soothing, 
and conduces to deep and refreshing sleep in the 
early part of the night. It may be added that the 
beneficial efiects of bathing will always be much 
enhanced by wiping the surface perfectly dry and 
subjecting it to vigorous friction. 

With regard to daily exercise, which is, on all 



352 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

hands, agreed to be neecssuiy to health, the great 
difficulty with American women is that they are not 
sufficiently in the open air. 

The daily routine of the household may be suf- 
ficient to produce muscular fatigue, yet it does not 
afford that relaxation of mind and that brisk circu- 
lation of the blood which are the soul of all salutary 
exercise. Every Avoman should spend, if possible, 
an hour or two daily iu the open air, — walking, 
riding, cultivating a garden, playing croquet, or 
throwing grace-hoops. She will thus forget the an- 
noyances of servants, and rise above the fatigue and 
ennui of the needle. 

The hj^gienical eflccts of a rapid and cheerful 
walk cannot be overstated. The most convenient 
of all kinds of exercise, it is, at the same time, the 
best. One of the most eminent of the physicians 
of New York, who for a long professional career 
has enjoyed a remarkable immunity from every 
species of illness, Avas asked lor a practical rule for 
the preservation of such uul)roken health. "I can 
give none better," was his reply, "than that Avhich 
I haA^e observed for the last thirty years, — to let 
no day pass Avithout Avalking from four to six 
miles." 

Professor Draper, in his admiral^le Avork on Phys- 
iology, has stated the truth as the result of many 



DOMESTIC HYGIENE. 353 

experiments, that the average strength of woman is 
to that of man as two to three. The above rule of 
the Kew York physician, as applied to woman, would 
then be, to let no day pass withont walking from 
two to four miles. 

"With regard to sleep, the rules of modern phys- 
iologists differ from those advanced twenty years 
ago. Then the amount of sleep supposed to be 
necessary was two or three hours less than is now 
deemed indispensable. The late doctrine is no 
doubt the true one. Abundant sleep is the best of 
all restorers after severe mental activity ; and those 
whose nervous waste is great, whether occasioned by 
pressing anxieties or by hard study, require far more 
sleep than persons whose weariness is simply that 
of the muscles. 

Ever since the days of Poor Richard, the maxim 
of "Early to bed, and early to rise, will make a 
man healthy, wealthy, and wise," has been the best 
possible summary of the laws relating to sleep. 

The perfect housewife will see to it that her meals 
are so regulated as to permit all the members of her 
fjimily to retire at an early hour, and yet place a 
sufficient interval betAveen the last meal of the day 
and the hour 'of sleep. 

One-third of our lives, or eight hours in twenty- 
four, for sleep, is doubtless the period required by 
30* 



354 THE rillLOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

jthegreatestmimber of persons. Some constitutions 
are better suited by nine hours of sleep, "while others 
find six and seven sufficient. In general, all nervous, 
anxious, and active-minded people should take all 
the sleep they can. With such there is no danger 
of excess. Servants, laborers, and others who lead 
an irresponsible and mechanical life, require less 
than those whose business it is to plan and direct 
labor. 

The refreshing power of sleep does not depend 
upon the number of hours passed in bed, so much 
as upon several other circumstances, such as the 
pleasantness of the bed, the completeness of di- 
gestion, the purity of the air in the dormitorj^, and 
the portion of the night given to sleep. 

As to the agreeableness of the couch, despite the 
eloquence that has been lavished on hard beds, the 
experience of the great majority of people is that a 
bed that is thoroughly comfortable is by far the most 
refreshinof. 

O 

The objections urged against feather beds, excejjt 
in midwinter, are doubtless valid ; but it stands to 
reason that a couch which will yield to the pressure 
of the bod}^ and conform in some measure to its 
shape, is vastly more agreeable and healthful than 
the soft side of a pine plank, even though covered 
with a common straw mattress. A A^ery perfect 



DOMESTIC HYGIENE. 355 

and delightful resting-place is made by placing 
upon a good set of steel or copper springs a shuck 
mattress, over which, at least in cool Aveather, a 
thinner bed of wool, hair, or feathers is laid. 

When a person eats a moderate supper, at six in 
the evenmg, by nine or ten o'clock the digestive 
process is so far advanced as to permit of sound 
and refreshing sleep, where the conscience is clear 
and the mind at ease. The practice of eating just 
before going to bed, and indulgence in late and rich 
suppers, cannot be too severely reprobated. 

It is very desirable that sleeping-rooms should be 
of large size, with high ceilings, furnishing an abun- 
dance of pure air of uniform temperature. But as 
this is generally impracticable, on account of the 
moderate dimensions of most houses, it becomes a 
matter of some difficulty to give a proper and whole- 
some ventilation to. bedrooms. Where it can be 
done, the windows should be lowered from three to 
twelve inches, according to the season of the year 
and the direction of the wind. 

A still better plan, where children are asleep, is 
to open the door of an adjoining room in which a 
window has been raised. 

In all cases, care should be taken that no draught 
or current of cold air passes across the bed. At all 
hours, this is a perpetual source of that most uni- 



356 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

versal of all maladies, a cold ; yet the exclusion 
of fresh ah- from a small sleeping-room will render 
a person very susceptible to contract a cold upon 
the first exposure, and sleep under such circum- 
stances can never prove refreshing. 

It cannot be too often repeated, or too earnestly 
pressed upon the attention of every thoughtful per- 
son, that the habitual breathing of bad air is as fatal 
to fine health as any catarrh or consumption ; the 
chief difference being that one is slow and insidious 
in its operations, while the other manifests itself 
promptly. The habit once formed of sleeping in a 
well-ventilated room is one which cannot with im- 
punity be encroached upon. The lungs will cry 
out for their accustomed supply of oxygen, and a 
dull headache, upon waking, is only the protest of 
the blood against the slow poisoning jDrocess of the 
night. 

As to the portion of the hours of darkness which 
is best devoted to sleep, the universal testimony of 
wise observers, in all time, is, that the half before 
midnight is by far the best. 

The familiar maxim, "one hour before midnight 
better than two after," does not overstate the im- 
portance of securing the early part of the night for 
the pillow. 

For two or three hours before the usual time for 



DOMESTIC HYGIENE. 357 

sleep, the mind .sbould be entirely relaxed, and all 
studies or iraius of thought of an animating or ex- 
citing nature should be carefully avoided. Mothers, 
and all persons who have ths young in charge, will 
find the observance of thi^ r'lle of the utmost im- 
portance, in securing health «ir.d tho normal devel- 
opment of the mental as well as the physical organ- 
ization of those whose habits they are assisting to 
form. The most healthful as Avell as the most suc- 
cessful mental labor is always accomplished in the 
morning. Midnight, indeed, has its excitement; 
but it is hot and morbid. Don Juan, Manfred, 
Festus, and all those great labors of misguided ge- 
nius, whose function it is to harrow the sensibili- 
ties, without either informing the mind or purifying 
the heart, are the product of late hours, — of false 
and wasteful excitement. But all the w^ritings that 
we love to call immortal, — w'hose blessed office it 
has been to inspire successive generations of poets 
and thinkers, to elevate and instruct mankind or 
" charm their pained steps over the burnt soil of the 
world," — were composed while the shadows of the 
trees all pointed westward, and the dew still spar- 
kled in the meadow. In Homer and Virgil, in 
Shakespeare and Milton, we seem ever to breathe 
the fragrance of the early morning, and catch a re- 



358 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

fniin from the inimitable trill of the heavcn-soarins: 
lark. 

Let us suppose, now, that a child has been reared 
in conformity with the Avell-established hygienic 
laws referred to in this chapter. 

He has, from the cradle, breathed pure and 
wholesome air ; he has been protected from the 
vicissitudes of climate by clothing of material the 
most suitable and always sufficient in amount ; his 
food has been wholesome, and skilfully adapted to 
his age and condition ; his muscles and entire phy- 
sique have been developed by vigorous and varied 
exercise ; an abundance of refreshing sleep has suc- 
ceeded the moderate fatigue of one day, and strength- 
ened him for the labors of the morni)ig; which fol- 
lowed. If we presume that, in addition to this, his 
mind has been disciplined by liberal culture, and 
his heart imbued with the love of virtue ; what bet- 
ter gift can a mother make to her race than such a 
son ? — capable of enjoying all that is worth enjoy- 
ing in this life, and fitted to achieve whatever de- 
gree of success is worth striving for in the arenn of 
the world. 



J 



DOMESTIC KEMEDIES. 359 

CHAPTER XXI. 

DOMESTIC KEMEDIES. 

Every housewife is necessarily, to a greater or 
less extent, a physician, in her own family, and, if 
her knowledge is good npon these subjects, she will 
frequently have it in her power to be of great bene- 
fit to her neighbors and others in distress. The 
maladies to which the wife and mother will most 
frequently be called upon to administer may be con- 
sidered under two heads : first, such as, from their 
moderate and simple character, admit of domestic 
cure ; and, second, alarming injuries and acute at- 
tacks of disease which demand prompt treatment 
before a ph3'sician may have time to arrive. 

Those slight disturbances of health, which a well- 
informed house-keeper can, if taken in time, treat 
successfully without calling in medical advice, may 
nearly all be embraced under two divisions : those 
"which result from a derangement of the alimentary 
canal, or digestive process, and those which result 
from taking cold. It may be remarked, here, that 
as the general duties of the housewife relate to the 
food and clothing of her family, so the maladies for 
which she is called to prescribe arise, in most cases, 



360 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

from the effects of unwholesome or ill-digested food, 
and insufficient or unsuitable clothing. 

Pain in the stomach and bowels generally pro- 
ceeds either from having eaten some crude fruit or 
unwholesome food, or from a disease of some part 
of the alimentary tract more or less acute. 

In the former case, nature can, for the most part, 
be left to her own j^rocess of relief. The pain thus 
occasioned is sometimes quite sharp, and, though no 
medicine may be required, the sympathies of the 
friend or the mother may urge the application of 
something that will assuaofe the suffering. 

O C5 o 

The first thing to be done is to give the person 
thus in suffering some hot and moderately stimulat- 
ing drink. Ginger is an article almost alwaj's at 
hand. Pour a half-pint of boiling water upon two 
teaspoonfuls of ground ginger ; add sugar and milk, 
if desired, and let the patient drink it as hot as can 
be swallowed. Of the spirituous liquors, none per- 
haps is better in such cases than gin, which should 
be diluted with hot water, and sweetened. Exter- 
nal applications may be made at the same time. A 
flannel Avrung out from hot water, and laid upon 
tlie seat of the pain, will, in connection with hot 
drinks, generally afford relief. If the pain con- 
tinues, and some irritation of the stomach appears, 
a mild emetic may be ventured upon, consisting of, 



' DOMESTIC REMEDIES. 361 

say, a teaspoonful of the syrup of ipecac, for a child 
half-grown, the close to be repeated in half an hour. 
If the case is still refractory, and the pain increases, 
such potent remedies as camphor, opium, and calo- 
mel may be necessary ; these, however, should be 
administered only by a medical man, except in cases 
where a certain dose of medicine has been found a 
specific in former attacks very similar to that from 
which the patient is now suffering. 

Domestic remedies, in an attack of colic, unless 
effective in two or three hours, may be regarded as 
inadequate, and the physician shoidd be called. 

After such an attack the patient of course needs 
a regulated diet. This subject is fully treated of 
under the head of "Food for the Sick," in a pre- 
ceding chapter ; but a few articles may very 
properly be alluded to here, as they are proper in 
all derangements of the bowels : home-made yeast 
bread, browned to a crisp ; rice parched and made 
into a drink like coffee ; boiled milk, thickened to 
a porridge with scorched flour ; soft-boiled eggs, 
cooked by breaking into a shallow dish of hot 
water. 

Diarrhoea and dysentery, into Avhich it passes, are 

the results of irritations, more or less acute, of the 

lining membrane of the bowels. Taken in its earlier 

stages it will generally 3'ield to simple remedies ; 
31 



362 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

neglected and suffered to run on, it reaches a stage 
at which the utmost medical skill is baffled. The 
object of the treatment in general should be to re- 
move from the system whatever acrid matters there 
may be in the bowels, to heal the corrosion they 
may have produced, and to incite to normal action 
all parts of the digestive apparatus. 

"VYhen the diarrhoea arices from acidity of the con- 
tents of the stomach and bowels (and this is gener- 
ally the difficulty with children), there is no remedy 
so simple or effective as the preparation sold by all 
the druijofists, known as "chalk mixture." It is a 
cheap, harmless medicine, and Avill seldom or never 
ao-o-ravate when it fails to relieve a patient. A tea- 
spoonful Avill generally give relief in slight cases, 
which, if allowed to run, would become serious. 
The presence of acrid matter in the stomach and 
bowels Avill at length bring on an inflammat'on of 
the lining membrane, which it may be found very 
difficult to allay. 

I have found it an excellent plan to have always 
in my closet a syrup of home manufacture, of which 
the following is the recipe : 

One-quarter of a pound each of hemlock, bay- 
berry, and black poplar bark ; boil for two or three 
hours, and have a gallon when done. Then add, 
while hot, an ounce of pulverized bitter almonds 



DOMESTIC REMEDIES. 363 

or peach-meats, one and a half pounds of loaf-sugar ; 
scald them together without boiUng. "When cold, 
add one quart of pure brandy, and put it away in a 
tightly corked demijohn. Dose for a child from 
two to four years old, half a gill three times a day. 
Repeat the dose more frequently if the case is stub- 
born. An adult should take a wineglassful before 
each meal. 

Another very excellent syrup for diarrhoea or 
weak digestion is made in the following manner : 
Take two teaspoonfuls of powdered cinnamon, two 
of allspice, one of cloves, one large nutmeg, one-half 
pound of nice raisins, chopped fine, with the seeds, 
one-half pound of white sugar, one pint of the best 
brandy, one-half pint of water. Put all the ingre- 
dients in a l^ottle, and set it in a Avarm plac3 near the 
stove, or in the sun for a day, when it will be ready 
for use. Dose, a tablespoonful for an adult and a 
teaspoonful for a child, half an hour before each 
meal. 

Both these preparations have the merit of being 
easily obtained, agreeable to the taste, and they 
contain nothing that can damage the most delicate 
organs or impair the constitution. 

By the use of chalk mixture and these syrups, 
and particularly the former, I have been able to 



364 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPINTG. 

manage all diseases of this character without calling 
in the physician. 

The most frequent of all the complaints which the 
housewife or mother is called on to relieve, is that 
universal and protean malady, a cold. 

This affection, if taken in time, can be cured with 
very little trouble and the most simple medicines; 
neglected, and allowed to fasten upon an important 
organ or part of the body, results the most disas- 
trous to health and fatal to life ensue. A malady 
so slight that medical skill ought not to be required 
in treating it, a cold is, in a fearful number of cases, 
allowed to become a2:2:ravated till it passes the skill 
of the most accomplished doctor. 

It is necessary to remember, that as colds are 
generally produced by a check to the insensible jjer- 
spiration, or the sudatory function of the skin, so 
the first thins: to be done in treating a cold is to re- 
store the proper functional activity of the surface. 
This is best dene by confining the body to a strictly 
uniform temperature, and drinking a hot infusion 
of sage, pennyroyal, pepper, mallows, or other 
shrub whose effect is to produce perspiration. AVhy 
is this way of doctoring a cold, which is familiar to 
everybody, and almost universally practised in this 
country, unsuccessful in so many cases? Mainly 
for two reasons. The process is not commenced 



DOMESTIC REMEDIES. 365 

soon enough, or it is not sufficiently persevered in. 
The great difficulty with the strenuous, restless, 
health-sacrificing people of America is that they can 
never find time to be cured of a cold ; they prefer 
to run the risk of contracting a slow, painful, and 
maybe fatal disease rather than to devote thirty-six 
or forty-eight hours to getting well. 

After the employment of these remedies, the 
pores, having been excited to unusual activity by 
the action of sudorifics, are more susceptible than 
before, and the person is more liable than ever to 
sufier from their sudden closing. 

Hence the imperative necessity of remaining in 
the same temperature as that in which the remedies 
were employed, until the surface has returned to its 
normal condition. A boy, for instance, has con- 
tracted a severe cold m winter. At nightfall his 
mother commences to treat him. He is seated by a 
warm fire, drinks one or two cups of sage or penny- 
royal tea, and has his feet plunged in a hot bath. 
By bedtime the symptoms are very much aljated, the 
irritation of the lining membranes has subsided, and 
the surface is warm aid moist. In a warm bed, Avith 
a hot soap-stone at his feet, he falls into a pleasant 
sleep, and wakes in the morning feeling and appear- 
ing quite well. Now comes the critical period of 

the treatment. If the mother yields to the natural 
31* 



366 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

restlessness of the lad, find lets him go out with his 
skates and sled, his pores all open with the treat- 
ment of the night before, his susceptibility to the 
disease thus doubled, his body warmly clad, but 
his feet damp and cold, and his hands in the snow ; 
the probabilities are that at nightfall all the symp- 
toms of the day previous will reappear greatly 
aggravated, the cough hard and unyielding, the skin 
feverish, the face flushed, with some complaint, 
perhaps, of pain in the chest. The I'emedies of the 
evening before are now unavailing. Sage tea and a 
hot brick fail to restore the skin to a proper con- 
dition. 

After some anxious hours of unavailing experi- 
ment, a physician is summoned, who finds what he 
calls a fairly developed case of pneumonia. 

It may seem superfluous to add that a confine- 
ment of a day or two to the sitting-room would have 
given the little suflerer back to his delightful sports, 
in a condition to defy the rigors of the winter. For 
want of a little precaution, he is now condcnmed to 
weeks of pain and pallor, and his parents to many 
anxious hours and wearisome vigils! With some 
children, the first notice the mother receives that a 
cold has been contracted is in the peculiar and ap- 
palling cough coming from the child's sleeping- 



DOMESTIC IlEMEDIES. 367 

room, which announces the presence of that terror 
of the nursery, — the croup. 

Like the alarm of the rattlesnake, the sound of 
the croup cough once heard can never be forgotten 
or mistaken. The croup cough is sharp, dry, and 
ringing, coming apparently from a narrower tube 
than the windpipe in its ordinary condition, and the 
inspiration that follows is constricted and painful in 
sound. 

The little patient's voice is frequently thin, and 
of an ominous hoarseness. The A'cry first note of 
this character that reaches the ear of the mother or 
nurse is a summons to the utmost promptness in 
the application of remedies. 

The enemy that she has now to battle with is, es- 
sentiall}^ an acute and rapidly progressive inflam- 
mation of the Avindpipe. This inflammation, if not 
arrested, is speedily followed by the formation of a 
tough mucus or membranous clog which, if not re- 
moved, will soon fill the throat, and death by suffo- 
cation is the terrible result. 

There are three modes of contending with this 
fearful malady of children, which may be employed 
successfully by the domestic practitioner. One is 
by the application of counter-irritants to the surface ; 
another is by relaxing the whole system Avith 
emetics ; and the third consists in the use of remedies 



368 THE rniLosoPHY of house-keeping. 

whicli arc supposed to act directly upon the lining 
of the windpipe. In severe and advanced attacks, 
all three may be necessary to aflbrd relief; but in 
the great majority of cases, prompt applicatiw'ii of 
counts r-irritants will suffice. 

At the moment this peculiar cough assails the ear 
of the mother, she should prepare three napkins, 
wring them out of cold Avater, laying one upou the 
chest, another at the back, pin togetlier on each 
shoulder, and wrap the third about the thi-oat. Then 
cover them in thoroughly with flannel, so that no 
external air will prevent them from becoming rap- 
idly Avarmed by the heat of the body. Those who 
believe in the hydropathic treatment of the disease 
contend that the most obstinate cases can be con- 
trolled in this manner. 

Another similar and excellent remedy, which is a 
very good one to begin with, is to apply flannel 
cloths, wrung out of hot saleratus-water, to the 
breast and throat, changing them as often as they 
get cold. Instead of changing the flannel cloths, it 
is an excellent plan to have two or three cotton 
cloths kept hot and applied, one after the other, 
above the flannel, thus keeping the air from ever 
coming in contact Avith and cooling the skin. 

A much severer application, which must be re- 
sorted to if the above fail, is mustard in the form of 



DOMESTIC REMEDIES. 369 

plasters upon the chest and throat, and also upon 
the soles of the feet, and around the wrists. A 
mustard plaster, suitable for children, is made by 
taking flour and mustard in equal quantities, mixing 
them with water so as to make a thin paste, then 
spreading it upon a piece of light muslin ; a layer 
of delicate linen or cambric should intervene be- 
tween the skin of the child and the paste. 

The last resort, among this class of remedies, is 
to a maistard bath, Avhich is made by adding a table- 
spoonful of mustard to every gallon of water, heated 
to as high a temperature as the patient can bear. 
He should be kept immersed in this for a lew 
minutes, and then wrapped in a warm woollen 
sheet, and placed in bed. 

At the same time internal remedies should be ad- 
ministered, as the croup is an enemy so deadly and 
powerful that he should be fought both on land and 
by sea. The simplest relaxing remedy is probably 
a dose of ipecac ; a favorite syrup for the croup 
consists of a mixture of the syrup of ipecac with 
the syrup of squills. Vomiting is almost certain to 
afford relief, and many begin by giving an emetic 
at once. An old-fashioned remedy, that relieved 
the suffering of our grandparents, was goose-grease 
mixed with snuff, spread upon a piece of flannel 
and pinned around the neck. The oil was supposed 



"TO TIIK rillLOSOPIlY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

to produce a relaxing" cficct upon tlic throat, and the 
sniifl' Avas employed as a counter-irritant. Another 
old-fashioned dose, and often very cfTcctual, is ten 
drojjs of spirits of turpentine in a tcaspoonful of mo- 
lasses, for a child six or seven years old. Pepper- 
tea, Avith lobelia, is also employed ; but it is with 
ditSculty administered to young children. 

The most formidable variety of croup is that 
known as meml)ranous, in which a tough Avhite 
membrane forms in the upper part of the windpipe ; 
but a malady so fearful as this is bcA^ond the reach 
of domestic remedies. Summon a physician as soon 
as possible. 

A peculiarity of the croup is that the ])aroxysm, 
though relieved the first night, may be expected to 
return on the two following nights. Unless the 
patient has been carefull}^ guarded in the interval, 
the second attack is likely to prove more severe than 
the first. On the third night it is comparatively 
mild. The cough Avhicli succeeds is seldom obsti- 
nate, and yields to ordinary remedies. 

When a cold is very severe, or has been neg- 
lected for some time, it may be accompanied by 
pain in the chest or under the shoulder-blades. 
This s3-mptom should be considered alarming, for a 
few hours of neglect will suflice to bring on pleurisy 
or pneumonia. The proper remedy is by the em- 



DOMESTIC REMEDIES. 871 

ployment of counter-irritants more or less powerful. 
The patient should be placed in bed, covered 
"Nvarmly, and hot flannels applied to the seat of the 
pain. "Woollen cloths, wrung from hot whiskey and 
water, are very effectual. These, if not relieving 
the pain, should be followed by mustard plasters. 
Dry cupping is an excellent remedy, and as this 
operation gives great relief in many forms of in- 
ternal inflammation, it may be well to describe it 
particularly. Take two or three common glass 
tumblers, with perfectly smooth edges, and prepare 
a half dozen or more tapers of thin and highly in- 
flammable paper. Light one end of the paper, 
place the lighted end iu the bottom of the glass, 
and invert the whole quickly upon the skin, pressing 
the glass down and fitting it snugly. The taper 
will exhaust nearly all the air in the glass and go 
out. To fill the vacuum thus produced the skin 
and flesh rise in a convex form within the glass, 
and there is a flow of blood to that part of the 
surface, which very frequently relieves the pain 
within. For pain in the chest, this application is 
generally made upon the shoulders and upper part 
of the back, and continued five or six times. 

The following recipe for a cough syrup is confi- 
dently recommended as one of the best that can be 
compounded. It is particularly effective in that 



372 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

hacking cough that often comes on just after retiring 
at night : — 

Take One ounce of slippery elm, 
One ounce of liquorice root, 
One ounce of thoroughwort, or boneset, 
And one ounce of flax-seed. 
Put the herbs in a quart of water and steep for 
several hours, not allowing the decoction to boil. 
Then strani the liquor, and add a pint of good mo- 
lasses and a pound of loaf-sugar ; return to the 
fire, and boil slowly for half an hour. When cool, 
bottle, and take a swallow every hour, or oftener, if 
the cough does not abate. 

The proper treatment of whooping cough, and 
also of measles, is given in the chapter on Infancy. 

The housewife will frequently have complaints 
brought to her of simple local pains, such as head- 
ache, toothache, and earache. Though not alarming 
symptoms, or indicating the presence of any disease, 
she M'ill feel inclined to make an application of 
some remedy, as physicians are not generally called 
to such cases, unless the pain is very acute and of 
long duration. 

Headache proceeds from various causes, among 
which may be enumerated excessive heat of the 
sun, close air, indigestion, or disordered stomach, 
want of exercise in the open air, extreme fatigue, 



DOMESTIC REMEDIES. 873 

or mental excitement and exhaustion. By removing 
the cause, the suffering will generally be relieved. 
For sun-headache, nothing is better than cloths wet 
in cold water, frequently changed and laid upon the 
brow and head, a recumbent posture in a darkened 
room, and perfect quiet. /Sick-headache com- 
monly results from great fatigue and the loss of a 
customary meal, especially when the cup of tea or 
coffee, to the use of which one may be accustomed, 
is missing. "When the illness is coming on, it may 
often be arrested by a cup of coffee and a little dry 
toast. When it has lasted several hours, the stomach 
will reject food, and the only cure is sleej>. The 
sufferer should have stillness and a dark, but not 
close, room as soon as possible. Placing the feet 
upon a stone, or bottle of water, as hot as can be 
endured without pain, will aid in relieving the head. 

The only sovereign and effective remedy for 
toothache is the forceps. But it generally occurs 
that considerable pain is endured before the sufferer 
makes up his mind to have the tooth extracted ; and 
there are tens of thousands of our people who never 
employ a dentist. 

Alum and salt, in equal parts, pressed firmly into 
the cavity, will often give relief. If that fails, 
moisten a small lock of cotton, dip it in morphine, 

and press into the cavity, taking care not to swallow 

32 



374 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPIXG. 

the saliva. Laudamiiu, applied in the same Avay, 
generally stops the pain ; so, also, does a drop of 
chloroform, or a drop of creosote, applied on cotton- 
wool. The oil of cloves is another remedy often 
used, and a little sack filled with red pepper and 
crowded into the cavity, is frequently effectual. 
Counter-irritation often relieves toothache. Apply 
a brick, or stone, or a smoothing-iron, as hot as the 
sufferer can bear, to the cheek ; or, rest that side 
of the face on a bag of hops just taken from hot 
water. 

JEarache, when not produced by tumors in the 
head, may generally be relieved iu the following 
manner : Take Avarm soap-suds and a syringe, and 
inject the water for some time, — the ear being held 
down so the water can run out. "When the inner 
surface of the ear is quite dry, mix two drops of 
sweet oil with one of chloroform, and of this mix- 
ture apply one or two drops, allowing it to ruu 
down into the ear, and tie up the head with warm 
flannel. 

When this does not relieve, apply a small blister, 
or a strong mustard plaster, say an inch square, just 
back of the ear. 

Domestic surgeri/ is principally confined to the 
treatment of slight cuts, bruises, scalds, and burns; 
but, during the life of every housewife, she may bo 



r»0:MKSTIC REMEDIES. 375 

called scYcriil times to act "svitli promptness and 
judgment, in cases of severe injuries, before a sur- 
geon can reach the patient. In the case of a broken 
limb, a woman can do comparatively nothing. She 
may place the sufferer upon a lounge or bed, and 
administer some stimulating drink in case of great 
prostration. While awaiting the arrival of the sur- 
geon, she may prepare bandages by sewing together 
strips of cotton to the length of several j'ards. 
Bandajjes for the lower limbs should be about three 
inches wide ; for the arm or head, an inch narrower. 
In cuts or lacerations of the flesh, where the 
bleeding is profuse, the character and color of the 
blood will determine whether an important blood- 
vessel has been severed. If the color is bri2;ht 
scarlet, and comes leaping in jets from the wound, 
it proceeds from an artery, and the promptest action 
may be required to save life. Fold a strong silk or 
linen handkerchief crosswise ; tie it tightly around 
the limb between the wound and the heart, to check 
the flow of blood to the extremity. The knot of 
the ligature should be placed on the line of the 
severed artery and pressed firmly down. When the 
flow is somewhat checked, press a tent of lint or 
raw cotton into the wound, lay a cloth over it, and 
keep the parts constantly wet with cold water. 
Where there is any probability that an artery has 



376 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPiNG. 

been severed, none but a skilful surgeon should 
luidcrtake the lirst dressino'. 

In severe hums and scalds, it is important to know 
Avhat application is safe and Avill afford the most im- 
mediate relief. If the skin has been destroyed, the 
first thing is to exclude the air from the exposed 
surface. Several substances are used for this pur- 
pose, some one of "which is almost certain to be at 
hand. Tar gives immediate relief. Molasses is not 
quite as good as tar, because it often contains a little 
of the acid of the cane-juice. 

In cases that occurred in oiu* oAvn family, we have 
used, with the best results, raw linseed oil. A 
thin muslin is laid over the burn, and the oil ap- 
plied upon the cloth with a feather. When the 
smart iug is allayed, a little white lead should be 
mixed with the oil, and applied. This prevents the 
formation of "proud flesh." The sore that follows 
should be washed two or three times a day with 
castile soap. A camel 's-hair brush, a soft shaving 
brush, a bit of fine old sponge, or a piece of worn 
linen damask, are best for this purpose. The parts 
afiected should be perfectly dried before the appli- 
cation of oil is again made. "When inflammation 
sets in, a poultice of mush, bread and milk, or 
mashed potato moistened with milk, is the most 



DOMESTIC REMEDIES. 377 

suitable. If "proud flesh" appears, spriukle a little 
burnt alum on the poultice. 

To burn alum, lay it on a shovel or other iron 
plate, and hold it over the fire till it ceases to bubble. 
When cool it "will crush to a powder between the 
fingers. 

An excellent liniment for burns and scalds is 
made by filling a two-ounce phial a third full of 
stronij lime-water and the remainins: two-thirds Avith 
sweet oil. Shake well before applying. 

Beside tar and linseed oil, above mentioned, other 
substances have been found of great value as first 
applications to a burn or scald. 

Finehj carded wool, laid thick upon the wound, 
is an excellent remedy. Cotton-wool may be used ; 
but it is not quite as good as sheep's wool. It 
would be advisable to have on hand a few ounces 
of soft wool, and the moment any one suffers a burn 
or scald, if the injury is deep, so that the skin will 
be removed, the arnica tincture should be diluted 
with water, and the parts at once covered in with 
wool. A deep burn is liable to putrescence. The 
best remedy f;r this is vinegar ; but when used it 
must bo largely diluted with water if the sore is 
raw. 

In slight burns, where the skin is not removed, 

as well as for all manner of small cuts, bruises, 
32* 



378 THE PHILOSOPHY OF IIOUSE-KEEPIXG. 

bumps, .-iiid contusions, wlilcli coustituto tlic afflic- 
tions of childhood, and cv^crmore demand relief from 
the mother, nothing will compare, as a universal 
panacea, Avith arnica. The tincture can be obtained 
of a druggist, or it can be made at home by putting 
five cents' worth of arnica flowers into half a pint 
of whiskey. In a family of children, the arnica 
phial should no more be permitted to stand empty 
than the su2:ar bowl. 

Its effect is magical, not only in allaying pain, but 
in loreventing soreness and discoloration. Where 
the flesh is not much bruised, or the cut is a clean 
one, the gash or rent should be drawn together and 
the parts held in place by strips of sticking-plaster. 
A firm bandage will check the bleeding. Care 
should be taken that no dirt or other forciirn sub- 
stance enters the Avound, as the healing; is much 
delayed by this means, and inflammation is some- 
times produced. If there is no adhesive plaster at 
hand, the skin of the inside of an egg-shell, mois- 
tened with the white, is an excellent substitute. In 
case of a cut not very deep, nothing else need be 
done. 

For poisonous stings of all kinds, and even for 
the bites of venomous snakes, a liniment made of 
hartshorn and sweet oil, in equal proportions, is a 
necessity in every famdy. A drop rubbed upon a 



DOMESTIC REMEDIES. 870 

mosquito bite allays the itching, and the sting of a 
wasp or bee is greatly soothed and soon entirelj^ 
cured by repeated applications. With a phial of this 
mixture, and the arnica bottle, a housewife may feel 
herself armed against all the minor disasters of the 
nursery. The sting of poisonous insects may be 
greatly allayed and the poison nearly all extracted 
by sucking the part immediately after the sting has 
been inflicted. 

When a person has been bitten by a deadly ser- 
pent, like the rattlesnake, the adder, or the copper- 
head, the first thing to be done is to procure and 
swallow a pint or more of ardent spirits, as brandy 
or strong whiskey. Alcohol neutralizes the poison. 
At the same time rub the bite constantly with harts- 
horn- and sweet oil. No poisonous bite is deadly 
when these remedies can be promptly used. 

When by a fearful mistake, or from the impulse 
of suicidal mania, poison has been swallowed, the 
first question is to know the general character of the 
substance taken into the stomach, whether it is ve<x~ 
etable or mineral. For the vegetable poisons, as 
opium, prussic acid, hemlock, or henbane, produce 
vomiting if possible, and administer strong coffee 
as quickly as it can be made. 

Children quite often are given an over-dose of 
laudanum. Give a teaspoouful of black coffee every 



380 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPIXG. 

five minutes to a child of two or three years, less in 
proportion to a babe. 

It lunar caustic has been swallowed, or poured 
on the surface so as to make a deep burn, sail is the 
antidote. For corrosive sublimate, the whites of 
eggs should be swallowed. For the salts of tin, 
milk is the best antidote. In lead poisoning, give 
Epsom salts dissolved in water, in the proportion of 
a tablespoonful to a quart. 

When any of the concentrated mineral acids has 
been taken into the stomach, such as vitriol, aqua- 
fortis, muriatic or oxalic acid, give water in which 
calcined magnesia has been dissolved; if this is not 
at hand, the best domestic substitute is strong soap- 
suds. 

If the alkalies have been taken, such as potash, 
soda, or hartshorn, let the suilerer take vinegar or 
lemon-juice diluted with water. If olive oil can be 
obtained and swallowed, it would form a soap in 
the stomach and be thrown off by vomiting. The 
suggestion may seem superfluous that in all cases of 
poisoning the utmost haste is necessary in securing 
the presence of a physician and a stomach-pump. 

In alcoholic intoxication, salt and strong coffee 
and tea are useful in restoring the lost equilibrium 
of the faculties. 

A quick emetic in all cases of poisoning is pre- 



DOMESTIC REMEDIES. 381 

pared by mixing two tablespoonfuls of ground mus- 
tard with a pint of tepid water. 

It is not to be expected, nor perhaps desirable, 
that a family should keep an assortment of medi- 
cines, but it is safe, as well as prudent, to have a 
medicine-shelf in one of the family closets, where 
one may be certain to find the following articles : — 

A bottle of tincture of arnica. 

A vial of hartshorn and sweet oil. 

Ground mustard. 

Syrup of ipecac. 

Itaw linseed oil. 

A good cough mixture. 

A diarrhoea syrup. 

Salve and sticking plaster. 

A syringe. 

Some disinfecting powder or fluid. 

Lime-water. 

If after sickness powerful medicines, such as 
opium, ergot, calomel, nitrate of silver, remain in 
the house, they should be distinctly labelled and 
put away quite beyond the reach of children or ser- 
vants. It would be safe to write the Avord POISOX 
in large letters on phials containing such substances, 
and never use them at all except in obedience to the 



382 THE ruiLOsoriiY of house-keeping. 

prescription of a medical man. Nor should they 
by any means be allowed to stand on the medicine- 
shelf with the family remedies enumerated above. 

The followins^ have been o^jeaned from various 
sources. Many of them we know by frequent use 
to bo good; all of them are harmless, and quite a 
number are invaluable : — 

A healing salve for sores. — Sweet oil and white 
wax in about equal proportions melted together. 

jhioiher, — Eosin, mutton tallow, and linseed oil 
in equal parts. 

A salve for burns. — Two ounces of sage, two of 
mutton tallow, two of rosin, two of beeswax. Boil 
the saije half an hour and strain it. Into this strous: 
sage tea put the other ingredients ; put over a mod- 
erate fire, and stir till all is dissolved. While hot 
add a little old rum. 

Liniment for sp7'a{ns and bruises. — To the whites 
of two eggs, well beaten, add a wineglass of vinegar, 
another of spirits of turpentine, another of alcohol, 
in this order, beating all the time. 

Liniment for ^ceah back. — Half a pint of beef 
gall, with half a pint of alcohol. Shake together, 
and apply with much friction before retiring. 

For a tliorn or splinter. — JMakc a plaster by mix- 
ing equal parts of pitch and tallow ; spread upon 
IciUhcr, and apply. The flesh soon becomes soft, 



DOMESTIC REMEDIES. 383 

and the substance can be removed with little or no 
pain. 

To remove fetid smells from sores.- — Equal quan- 
tities of powdered logwood and suet applied as a 
plaster. 

For a carbuncle. — Oatmeal and hop yeast, to be 
followed by a slippery-elm poultice. 

To treat a boil. — While the inflammation is high, 
and before the boil approaches suppuration, keep it 
covered with a towel wrung out of cold Avater, and 
covered Avith a flannel wrapping. Then apply a 
poultice or plaster made of honey and the Avhite of 
an e^^, stiffened to a paste with flour. Continue 
this till it ceases to discharge. 

Equal parts of brown sugar and rosin soap make 
a plaster that is very drawing. 

DISINFECTING FLUIDS AND HOW TO USE THEM. 

In the early part of the summer, buy five pounds 
of the chloride of lime, and put it into a tub con- 
taining four common-sized pails of soft Avater, — 
rain-Avatcr is best. Stir for five minutes, and then 
allow it to settle ; Avhen clear draAv off into some 
tight vessel or into bottles. In case of sickness, 
and especially infectious diseases, make free use of 
this fluid upon all vessels, and place shalloAV dishes 
filled Avith it under the bed and in the corners of the 



384 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

room. If there is a bacl-smelling drain, or place 
"where a drain discharges, or a spot Avhcre slops 
have been thrown, that has an offensive smell, mix 
a quart with a pail of water and pour it upon the 
offensive grounds. Every few days pour such a 
pail into the privy. In case of cholera, the addi- 
tion of a quart of sulphuric acid will make the fluid 
much more effectual as a disinfectant ; hut this must 
not come in contact with clothing. j\Ieat dipped in 
the fluid solution of chloride of lime will keep for 
many daj's. Foul clothes may be dipped in it and 
then into fresh water. Sprinkle a little of it upon 
the bed-clothing of a sick-chamber, and make fre- 
quent use of it around the premises while the Avarm 
weather continues. A little added to whitewash 
makes it more useful for sweetening as well as 
whitening the walls of a room. 

A. powerful disinfecting liquid is made by taking 
two ounces of sugar of lead and two ounces of nitric 
acid, — the old name of Avhich was aqua fortis, — 
put them in a glass bottle, fill Avith Avater and shake. 
A spoonful of this fluid will quench or absorb tho 
offensive gases of a drain, a priv}"-, or an infected 
vessel. Largely diluted withAvater, it may be used 
in the same Avay as the solution of chloride of lime. 

A very good disinfecting fluid is made by dis- 



DOMESTIC REMEDIES. 385 

solving half a pound of copperas in a gallon of 
water. 

HOW TO ACT IN CASE OF SUDDEN AND SEVERE BURN- 
ING. 

The falling of a lighted match upon a muslin 
dress, the bursting of a lamp, or sudden contact 
with a gas-burner, and many other similar casual- 
ties, are likely to occur in every family, and it is 
important at such times to have presence of mind, 
and also to know the best thing to be done. When 
the dress of a lady or a child is seen to be on fire, 
snatch a woollen cloth or garment of any kind, a 
shawl, an overcoat, a woollen table-cloth, a piano 
cover, a blanket from the bed, the hearth-rug, the 
crumb-cloth, or even heavy woollen curtains that 
maybe hanging by the window, — anything that can 
be seized instantaneously, — envelop the sufferer at 
once and lay her upon the floor. If the fire is not 
immediately extinguished, throw on water. Make 
ready a bed as soon as possible, and from the pan- 
try or from the nearest grocery obtain a quantity of 
flour, — a pailful may be necessary. If the burning 
has been quite extensive, so that the suffering is very 
great, the clothing shoukl be removed very care- 
fully, and wholly removed. Sprinkle a quart or 
two of flour upon the under sheet, and lay the pa- 
33 



386 THE rniLOsopur of iiouse-keepino. 

tient very gently upon it, then with tlie fingers or 
with 11 sieve sprinkle the fiour freely upon every 
part that gives p:iin. Unless the Inn-ning or scald- 
ing has been very deep, this coating of flour will 
assuage and often entirely remove the distress. Let 
the patient be kept as quiet as possible. Give 
neither opium nor chloroform unless a doctor is 
present. 

FROST BITES 

May occur to the nose and ears more particularly 
without the sufferers being aware of the fact. The 
first visible effect witnessed, is, the parts become of a 
dull red color, if the cold continues they gradually 
assume a tallow paleness, perfectly insensible and 
diminished in bulk. The first remedy to be em- 
ployed is to rub the parts well with snow, for which 
after a while cold water may be substituted, in a 
cold room where the patient must be confined for 
some time. 

Should any ulceration result from these causes, 
an ointment composed of the following is a good 

application : 

Oil of turpentine, 1 oz. 

Basilicon ointment, 3 oz. 
Spread on a cloth and apply. 



DOMESTIC REMEDIES. 887 

DROWNING. 

RemoYe from the mouth and nostrils all obstruc- 
tions to the free passage of air to the lungs ; loosneing 
the clothing about the chest. 

Extend the arms in the direction of the body above 
the head, bringing them as near together as possible. 
When the capacity of the chest is thus enlarged, 
throw fresh air into the lungs by the best available 
means, by a flexible tube passed into the " wind- 
pipe," or by blowing into the mouth, pressing gently 
at the same time on the projection called Adam's 
apple, then replace the arms, at the same time press- 
ing firmly on the sides and chest, repeat these mo- 
tions 14 times a minute. While extending the arms 
let an assistant pass a strong solution of ammonia 
close under the nose, keeping the lips closed. 

While acting thus upon the lungs let assistants 
remove the clothing, wipe the body by vigorous 
friction of the skin with dry hot cloths, and endeav- 
or to restore warmth and vitality or place bottles 
of hot water around the patient, but religiously 
avoid the warm bath. If the weather be cold 
the patient should be carried on a board to the near- 
est house. 



388 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

CONVULSIONS IN CHILDREN. 

Immediately place the child in a warm bath up 
to the hips, and apply cold water to the head. The 
cliilds' head should be raised, and the water poured 
on it in a gentle continuous stream, out of a jug, 
from a small height. If the child is teething, ex- 
amine the mouth, and if the gums are swollen and 
inflamed, they should be lanced immediately. 

If food has been taken but a short time before 
the spasm, give an emetic, and then a purgative 
enema of a teaspoonful of spirits of turpentine in 
half a tumbler of warm gruel. The latter applica- 
tion may be used in all cases, from whatever cause 
the convulsions may arise. 



DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 389 



CHAPTER XXII. 

DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE AND ORNAMENTATION. 

While the technical details of the house-builder's 
art are quite remote from Avoman's province, it inti- 
mately concerns her interest and convenience to 
have correct and well defined views as to the best 
arrano-ement of the livino;-rooms of a house. If 
she has just and clear conceptions on the subject, it 
will be likely to occur several times in the course 
of her life that she w^ll have opportunities of real- 
izing them. Such is the migratory character of the 
American people, as well as the thrift of our popula- 
tion, that a house-keeper rarely occupies for any 
great number of years the same dwelling, and her 
changes are, in the majority of cases, for the better. 
When these moves occur, and especially when, in 
the course of an advancing fortune, she may antici- 
pate the possession of a permanent family residence 
of her own, how nearly it concerns her interests, 
and those of her family, to know which rooms 
should enjoy the southern and eastern exposure, 
which should be devoted to daily household uses, 
and which to the entertainment of friends ; how the 
kitchen, the pantry, the nursery, and drawing-room 

33* 



890 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

may l)c mutually adjusted so as to secure for her the 
utmost facility of execution, and admit the greatest 
economy of time and labor. 

It may be said, in general, that, in grouping the 
different rooms of a house-plan, the person mainly 
interested in the result should proceed from within 
outwardly, rather than the reverse, which is the 
natural method of the carpenter. For instance, the 
house-keeper who is so fortunate as to have it in her 
power to prescribe the internal arrangement of a 
house, should begin with her sitting-room and 
kitchen, as these are jjractically the nucleus of a 
dwellin2:. Let her determine in her own mind of 
what size she would like to have her kitchen ; where 
she would have her windows ; Avhere the fireplace or 
flue for stove-pipe ; where the pump (if this is prac- 
ticable) and sink ; on which side she would like her 
pantry and her closet. Around this let her arrange 
those rooms which she would have opening into it, as 
bedroom, sitting-room, wood-house, and the doors 
leading to the chambers and the cellar. 

From these rooms of absolute necessity she may 
proceed to the parlor, dining-room, library, and 
drawing-room, according to the degree of elegance 
in which she proposes to live. It will be the 
business of the architect to cover in these various 
apartments, securing for them proper lights and 



i 



DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 391 

ttrx.liiicc:unil eflects ; and it will be found in this, as 
in many other instances, that the law of utility coin- 
cides with the hnv of beauty -, for, other things 
being equal, that dwelling-house will look the hand- 
somest which is most skilfully adapted to the 
convenience of the family which occupies it. 

The first thing to be considered in a plan for a 
kitchen is the saving of steps. Three times every 
day, and three hundred and sixty-five days each 
year, a house-keeper has meals to prepare, to ar- 
, range upon a table, and to clear away. Suppose, 
now, that in a w-ell-arranged room, three hundred 
steps will, on an average, suffice to carry one through 
the routine of a dinner. If, as often happens, she 
is compelled to take six hundred, nearly one-half 
of her fatigue and consumption of time will be the 
direct consequence of unskilful and ill-advised 
planning. Thus, in the course of the year, a cause 
apparently so slight as the awkward collocation of 
the stove, pantr}^, closet, and sink may work an 
enormous difference in the amount of leisure and 
strength she may have to bestow on something 
better than mere household drudgery. "When the 
carpenter, the cabinet-maker, and the shoemaker, 
or the type-setter, whose skill consists in the rapid 
combination of materials, arrange their shops, they 
place their tools and their assortm-^nts of wood, 



352 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

metal, and leather, so as to be used with the fewest 
possible movements ; the difTereiice between a slow 
and a fast workman l)eing not in the rate of move- 
ment so much as in the superior ability of one to 
make every motion tell on the rapid completion of 
the job in hand. Just so it is with the house- 
keeper. Her kitchen is her Avorkshop. "Water, 
fuel, the stove, the dishes, the raw materials of food, 
are the tools and the stock with which it is her 
business to concoct the family sustenance. 

The absolute amount of movement unavoidable in 
the domestic routine is about the same in families 
of the average size ; but the rapidity and ease with 
which this is performed in different households vary 
enormously. In many a house the whole time from 
breakjfiist to dinner is regularly consumed in doing 
up the morning w^ork. In others, where the family 
is no smaller, the same will be accomplished in three 
hours from the time of rising. 

The time thus rescued from the demands of the 
kitchen may be so much more pleasantly and profit- 
ably employed in little arts of household adornments, 
in personal accomplishments, or in agreeable con- 
versation, that the result of the two systems, as 
contrasted, is the Avide interval which separates the 
home of refinement, order, and taste from the house 
where there is heard the perpetual clatter of dishes ; 



DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 393 

where the table seems a fixture in tlie middle of the 
floor, and the cooking-stove never grows cold. 

To effect a difference so great, is it not worth the 
while for every house-keeper to plan her work as 
well as the facilities by which it is done, in the best 
possible manner? For instance, to have her stove, 
fuel, and water in the closest juxtaposition that cir- 
cumstances will allow; to set her table so that dishes 
can be placed upon it from the closet and the stove, 
removed to the sink, the cleansing accomplished, 
and they returned to the closet, with the fewest 
movements and in the shortest time. 

The following house-plans, and details of the con- 
struction of kitchens and store-rooms, are all taken 
from buildings actually in existence ; and they have 
in each case been found to be in a hiixh degree con- 
venient, and economical of l)oth time and labor. 
They are given as examples of the thoughtful com- 
bination of all the essential rct|uisitcs for the most 
l^erfect house-keeping. 

Plan No. I. represents a kitchen and pantry, bed- 
room and wood-house, built as an L, or addition, 
to an old-fashioned, square, two-story house, con- 
structed after the model in vogue fifty years ago. 

B indicates a door leading into the old j^art of 
the house. C leads into a small bedroom, of which 
the window looks to the south. F leads into the 



394 



i 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 



wood-house ; D into the pantiy. A opens into the 
yard, on the north side of the house. S is the cook- 
ing-stove, and s a sink, with pump and waste-pipe 
leading from it. W T is the work-table, between 
the two south windows, upon which there are shelves 




Plan No. I. 

for flowers. D T is the diuing-table, and d the desk 
where the farmer or mechanic keeps his papers and 
accounts. 70 is a small door, or opening, two feet 
in height and a foot wide, just back of the stove, 
and giving access to a wood-box, built of stout 



J 



IX)]HESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 395 

plaiik, and situated in the wood-house. By this 
contrivance, the trouble of bringing wood in by the 
door, in the arms or a basket, is entirely obviated, 
and a great saving is thus very easily effected in 
labor, time, and the avoidance of all unnecessary 
litter around the stove. 

When the morning chores are done, a few mo- 
ments will suffice to split and toss into this box 
wood enough to last through the day ; and the 
opening is so near the stove 'door that the fire may 
be fed by a single movement of the hand. 

In winter, the superfluous warmth of the kitchen 
may pass into the bedroom ; and in summer, the 
openings are such that a current of fresh air may be 
made to pass through the room, keeping the venti- 
lation perfect, 3'et not crossing the bed. 

It will be seen that the stove, fuel, water, pantry, 
and Avork-table are all at the same end of the kitchen, 
and within a few steps of each other. Let us now 
note the practical advantages of this collocation, in 
the preparation and removal of the dishes of a meal, 
a work which recurs three times a day in most 
farm-houses. Let us suppose that the house-keeper 
steps from her bedroom into this kitchen at five 
o'clock of a summer morning. She lifts the little 
sliding door that opens into the wood-box, and finds 
wood and kindling ready at hand. In less than five 



S93 THE PHILOSOniY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

niimitc'S the stove is beginning to grow hot, and iu 
ten minntes the teakettle, "which she filled by a few 
strokes of the pump-handle, is boiling. Within the 
next fifteen minutes she may have her table spread, 
the coffee made, her bread cut and laid upon the 
table, and the food warmed for breakfast. The 
pantry is so near the stove and table that all her 
supplies can be reached by the fewest steps ; and 
when the meal is concluded, one movement takes 
the soiled dishes into the sink, and another trans- 
fers to the jDantry whatever belongs there. 

Suppose it is baking day. In winter, by open- 
inof the door, it will be warm enou2:h to enable the 
house-keeper to mould her bread and make her pies 
and cakes in the pantry. This has a broad shelf 
running the entire length of the room, under the 
window E, which serves at once for shelf and table. 
Beneath it she keeps her barrels of flour, sugar, and 
meal, the casks of lard and molasses, and just above 
are all her spices arranged, as they should be, in a 
spice-box, or in separate vessels with close-fitting lids. 

The shelf is broad enough to hold her moulding- 
board, and everything she needs can be reached by 
taking one or two steps to the right or the left. If 
she has a place for everything, and everything in its 
place, as every good house-keeper should, she will 
be able to put her hands at once upon the baking- 



DOIVIESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 397 

paus, the rolling-pin, the nutraeg-grater, the soda- 
box, "u' it bout the loss of a moment in nnnecessaiy 
and vexatious search. As soon as her pans are 
ready for the stove, the interval she has to pass in 
reaching the oven door is very short ; and thus sav- 
ing steps and time and annoyance, at every stage 
of the work, slio may do a large baking in two 
hours, which, under circumstances less favorable, 
would consume half a day. 

On Avashing-day the working-table can be re- 
moved, and the tubs or washing-machine set in its 
place by the window. The pump in the sink is set 
afoot higher than in the ordinary arrangement^ and 
a piece of india-rubber or canvas tubing, scA'cral 
feet in length, is kept coiled on a nail in that corner, 
so that it can be attached, by an elastic band, to the 
spout of the pump, and water conveyed to the boiler 
on the stove, and to the machine or the tubs, with- 
out the toil of lifting heavy weights, and the annoy- 
ance of drenched floors. The work of washing is 
all confined to this corner of the room ; so that, if 
desirable, baking and ironing can be carried on at 
the same time, and the operations not interfere with 
each other. 

If that end of the room extendins: from the cor- 
ner of the pantry to the window opposite is covered 

with oil-cloth, the rest of the room may be well car- 

34 



398 



TILE PHILOSOPHY OF IIOUSE-KEEPINa. 



peted, Avithout danger from soiling by the usual 
work of a kitchen. 

It, iu the wood-house, represents ca piece of ma- 
sonry, in which a large caldron is set. It is near 
the pump, so that the tube described will fill it by 
simply operating on the pump-handle. It is de- 
signed as a place where water may be heated for 
butchering, soap-boiling, and where other heavy 
jobs can be done. 




Plax No. II. 



Plan No. II. represents a kitchen awkwardly con- 
structed, and very inconvenient, as the author knows 
from experience, having lived in it ; and yet it con- 



DOMESTIC AECHITECTURE, ETC. 399 

tains everything desirable in a kitchen, though badly 
arranged, s is a sink, with a pump and waste-pipe 
in it, and a closet under it for pots, spiders, etc. ; 
also a small closet, j), adjoining. Q is the stove, 
C the china-closet, B a door entering the sitting- 
room ; A, a door leading into the back hall, with 
stairs going to the second story, and under them a 
door, R, opening down cellar. L is the door lead- 
ing out into the open air. G opens into P, the pan- 
try, lighted by a Avindow, and well fitted up with 
shelves and drawers. The stove is on the north side 
of the room, consequently the windows open on the 
east and south, making the room always cheerful 
and a delightful winter kitchen. 

Pleasantly carpeted, and with pictures on the 
walls, to a stranger this little cosey kitchen seems 
just the thing ; but suppose, now, you have visitors, 
or a half-dozen children, to occupy the space while 
barking is going on, or while dinner is being pre- 
pared. If your dining-ta]3le is out in the floor, it is 
in the way every time you go from the pantry to 
the sink ; and there is no room for a person to sit in 
quiet, undisturbed and out of the way, but in the 
corner between the two windows. When a meal is 
prepared or cleared aAvay, in this room, the house- 
keeper must continually pass from one end of the 
room to its opposite corner, from the sink to the 



400 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

pantry, from the stove to the pantry, and back to 
the sink, thus taking three or four times as many 
steps as are really necessary. All this might have 
been obviated "when the house Avas built, if the pan- 
try and stairs had been made to change places. Let 
a door at v: open into the pantr}', and G be closed 
up, and how different "would the room appear as a 
place for work ! Pantry, china-closet, stove, and 
sink "VN'ould then all be in one end of the room, and 
the other could be occupied pleasantly by the family, 
"without interfering with the culinary operations, or 
being interfered with in the least. 

Plan Xo. III. is another kitchen-plan where work 
may be easily and pleasantly done without taking 
unnecessary steps or having the room in disorder. 
R is the range ; P a pantr}', with a window in it, 
and a closet, C, opening from it by a glass door. 
Here, in winter, provisions that would be spoiled 
by frost may be kept, since it is kept warm by the 
range. S is a sink and pump-room opening from 
the kitchen, with a closet above and below the sink, 
one for tins, and the other for iron ware, w t is 
the w^ork-table, which may bo placed between the 
■windows if desirable. F is a door leadiuij into the 
wood-house, and D another opening into the sitting- 
room. This is an excellent plan in a family where 
only one fire is kept, and where it is desirable that 



DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 



[Ql 



the clatter and disorder of dish-washing be removed 
to another room. It j)ermits a good house-keeper 
to have her kitchen in first-rate order all the time. 
When the dishes are washed, they can be removed 
at once to the pantry, through the door L. 



m^ D fi--!)i»issstB-m'ta 




Plan No. III. 



The sink-room is provided with hooks or pegs, 
on which may be hung the rag-bag, the herb-bag, 
the patch-bag, and garments in daily use, which, if 
suspended on the kitchen walls, give it an untidy 
appearance. Here the tool-box may be kept, the 

children's playthings, theiFcaps, and cloaks. 

34* 



402 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 



Plan No. IV. is taken from an elegant residence 
in oae of our cities, and is an excellent arrangement 
for a family that has two or more servants, and ea- 




Tlax No. IV. 



tertains a good deal. A is a half glass door, the 
glass handsomely stained and with beautiful de- 
signs, loading from the hall into D R, the dining- 
room. At B is a grate^ D is a door, half glass, 



DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 403 

leading into the yard. E is a large bay-window. 
G is a door leaching througli a small sink-room into 
K, the kitchen. Here, in the sink, are two faucets, 
one for hot water from the range, R; the other for 
cold water. In this sink the dishes may be washed 
and returned to the table, or placed in the side- 
board, S. From this sink-room a door opens into 
a small warm closet, suitable for winter storage, 
lighted by a window over the door, c is a small 
opening from the kitchen closet or pantry, through 
which dishes may be passed to the dining-table. h 
is a small sliding panel, through which orders may 
be given to the cook, without permitting the odors 
or the noises of the kitchen to penetrate to the 
dining-room. In such an arrangement as the above, 
the cook and dining-room servant cannot possibly 
interfere with each other. In setting and clearing 
away the table, the dining-room servant need not 
enter the kitchen at all. The dishes containins: 
food may be passed to and from the table through 
the opening c, so that the cook need never enter the 
dining-room. In this way the china, glasses, and 
silver, which belong in the china-closet and in the 
plate-safe, never go to the kitchen, but remain en- 
tirely in the charge of a trusty dining-room servant. 
In deciding upon the site of a house, much de- 
pends upon the surface, \7hen the building 'spot 



404 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

is level, the principal question is as to the direction 
in which the house is to face, and 'which rooms shall 
be favored with the sunny-side exposure, and which 
shall 1)e indulged with the fairest prospect that the 
landscape ailbrds. When your situation admits of 
a choice of slopes, it will be found much more con- 
venient to have the rear of the house on the fall of 
the slope. In the first place, you get a deep cellar, 
without a great amount of excavation, and there is 
afforded in the rear of the cellar a basement or half- 
basement, which will serve as a place where washing, 
and similar heavy household tasks, may be per- 
formed. This plan also gives the greatest fiicility 
for drainage, and facilitates the removal of all 
rubbish, leaves, and substances of that sort, from 
about the house. It also furnishes an easy entrance 
to all such stores as are kept in the cellar, besides 
affording to that important portion of a dwelling, 
and jDarticularly of a farm-house, easy ventilation 
and a good access of light. 

A serious inconvenience, in a large number of 
houses built twenty or thirty years ago, is the ar- 
rangement of the floor, some of the rooms being 
from four to twelve inches lower than others. 
Though apparently a small matter, it is a fault which 
causes a great amount of fatigue and annoyance, 



DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 405 

beside the accidents and breakages of which they 
are the occasion^ 

Probably in no one circumstance is there so great 
a contrast of economical arrangement as in the fa- 
cility -with which a supply of water is obtained by 
dilierent households. 

The saving of time, strength, patience, life itself, 
by having an abundant and unfailing supply of 
water brought into the house, is incalculable. In 
the usual culinary operations of a family of average 
size, from six to ten pailfuls of water are consumed 
daily ; on washing days twenty and twenty-five 
extra pailfuls are needed. Thus, in the course of a 
week, from seventy-five to one hundred pailfuls are 
required for family supply. Suppose the well to be 
outside the house, at the nearest practicable dis- 
tance, and that the facilities for drawing are good. 
Two minutes will be consumed for each pailful. 
This labor, during the week, will consume about 
three hours, which, if continuous, would be of the 
most exhausting character. In a twelve-month it 
would be found that the water drawing had cost 
fifteen days of toil as severe as sawing wood, or 
spading the earth ; all, or nearly all of which could 
be avoided by having a pump, a hydrant, or a tank, 
in a corner of the kitchen. 

Another desirable end to be attained is the warm- 



406 THE rillLOSOPIIY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

ing of 11 house at tlic least expense. As our native 
forests are being swept away bcfor|^ the axe of the 
stalwart pioneer, and manufacturing industry keeps 
up so vast a demand upon our coal mines, thus 
holding its price at a high figure, economy of fuel 
becomes a matter of ever-increasing importance. 

Neither we nor our children may enjoy those 
heroic old fires of colonial and revolutionary times, 
when the butt-log of an aboriginal oak or maple 
was rolled into the huge fireplace, and mated with 
a fore-stick of corresponding size, the split Avood 
piled above them, the whole ablaze till the ruddy 
glow burnished the heads of the quaint old fire-dogs, 
flamed athwart the kitchen dresser, transmuting its 
long row of polished tins into silver, and shot beams 
of hospitable light far into frozen Avastes Avithout. 

The first and greatest of our practical philoso- 
phers invented stoves ; and since Franklin's clay 
what a multitude of curious cast-iron contrivances 
have we seen, the object of Avhich is to make three 
little sticks of Avood, or half a peck of coal, cook 
for a whole family, and at the same time Avarm 
them all ! 

Surely Ave seem to have reached the ultimatum in 
economizing fuel in cooking-stoves ; but the problem 
of the house-keeper is often how to distribute the 



DOMESTIC AflCIIITECTURE, ETC. 407 

warmth of one room through one, two, or three 
others. « 

In building a house, particularly in a northern 
climate, the rooms may easily be so placed as to 
admit of this. For instance, a bedroom may be 
made comfortable by the superfluous warmth of the 
kitchen. 

By means of a drum or register, or even a con- 
tinuation of the stove-pipe through the floor into the 
chamber above, the apartment immediately over the 
kitchen or sitting-room may be kept quite comfort- 
able without increasing the amount of fuel consumed. 
Except in sickness, it is not desirable to raise the 
temperature of a sleeping-room above 50°. The 
register or circular hole cut in the chamber floor 
over the kitchen has this advantage, that it may be 
used in summer as a ventilator by keeping the 
chamber windows open. The hot air and the odors 
will rise through the oriflce, giving a cool, sweet 
atmosphere in the lower apartment. 

In the old New England house, the almost uni- 
versal plan was to group four rooms around either 
one large chimney in the middle, or around two 
that rose near each other, and not far from the 
centre. Almost the sole advantage of this style is 
a small saving in brick and mortar. The comfort, 
cheerfulness, and adaptation of a room to the va- 



408 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

rioiis fireside operations of a home, depend very 
much on the relation of thewindowsJ;o the chimney. 
The most dehiiiitful winter sittinsr-room we ever oc- 
cupied w'as an L with an eastern, southern, and 
western exposure, the chimney between the two end 
windows that looked south. This permitted one to 
sit near the stove, and yet have a strong light from 
a window close by. The recesses thus afforded be- 
tween the walls and the chimney made cosey and 
delightful places for reading and sewing, which, 
being but a step from the stove, were perfectly com- 
fortable in the severest weather. One of these 
recesses was devoted to children, who could have 
their playthings there and enjoy them to the full, 
without disarranging the other parts of the room, 
or molesting the reader on the opposite side of the 
masonr3\ 

This arrangement possesses all the advantages 
of a bay-window, without its expensiveness, and 
without that remoteness from the fire which makes 
a bay-window almost useless in cold weather, unless 
the whole room is kept at a very high temperature. 

A very tasteful and sensible practice has become 
quite common in modern buildings, of discarding 
paint for the interior of houses, and finishing Avith 
native w^oods which have a handsome grain. The 
expensiveness of this plan is but little greater than 





W^jT:2^C V\ J j:i^j^.j'jT^.jiG. 



DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 409 

die usual wa}' of using soft wood, as pino or bass, 
and covering it with thick coats of paint, and it has 
the advantage of being much more easily cleaned. 
Oak, chestnut, and hard-pine, are all used in this 
way, but chestnut most frequently. If a house- 
keeper can have no ccntrolof such matters, she may 
very often dictate what shall be the color of the 
paints applied to different rooms. For a kitchen, 
no color is more unsnitable than white. To look 
well, it needs renewing almost yearly, and should 
be wiped down, with a cloth dipped in strong soap- 
suds, as often as once in two weeks, and m summer 
every week. In this way, the paint is fast washed 
off, and soon looks dull. Hence, any room that is 
constantly used, is best painted a buff color, and 
trrained in imitation of oak. This does not soil 
easily, and continues bright for many years. 

If any rooms are painted white, it should be the 
parlor and halls, and then nothing is saved by the 
use of cheap materials. Let the wood be well cov- 
ered m by three or four successive coats of oil and 
white lead, and the final coat Florence or zinc white 
mixed with varnish. This gives a beautiful glossy 
finish, snowy white, and not easily soiled. 

A coat of paint like this can be washed without 

damaging, and remains good for ten or twelve 3'ears 

if carefully used. Yery happy effects are produced 
35 



410 TIIE PHILOSOPHY OF IIOUSE-KEEPIXG. 

by a slight varying of the shade or tint of wliite 
used. This is done on parlors, and in handsome 
chambers. The panels of a door, for instance, 
may be of a very pale lilac, and the other parts 
white. In the same way the mouldings of a door, 
or window frame, may be of a pale, reddish blue, 
and the smooth surfiices white. When manasred 
with taste and delicacy, this mode of varying the 
tints adds greatly to the beauty of the walls of a 
room. 

Barns and small out-houses can be painted a buff 
or yellow color. This is cheaper than white, and 
preserves the wood equally well when put on Avith 
good oil. Out-houses, as for pigs and hens, can be 
erected at a very moderate expense. They may be 
covered with thm boards, thoroughly seasoned. 
These are sheathed with common sheathing-paper, 
well tacked on and covered Avith a cheap paint, for 
which the following is a recipe : 

Four gallons of coal-oil or common tar, one gal- 
lon of Roman cement, three pounds of rosin, one of 
tallow. Melt together and apply warm with a 
broad brush. 

But in the fitting up of a home the province of 
woman is rather to decorate than to invent ground 
plans. While her wishes and ideas with respect to 
the interior arrangements of her house oaght at all 



DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 411 

times to be consulted, her special and more appro- 
priate labors may be said to begin where those of the 
joiner, the plasterer, and the painter end. The ex- 
terior expression of a house is almost wholly a matter 
of architectural effect ; but the tone of family rooms, 
the interior expression of the apartments of a house 
■which are in constant use, is given by the spirit and 
taste of the woman who presides over them, and 
who is the soul of that home. The effect that is 
jDroduced by the arts of the decorative painter, the 
ornamental plasterer, and the upholsterer is almost 
wholly in proportion to the expense lavished iu se- 
curing it ; but results quite as happy may be 
attained by a moderate outlay, and often by a sim- 
ple exercise of skill and taste in the arts of decora- 
tion. A geranium blooming in the window, a rose- 
bud in a wineglass on the mantel-piece, a bouquet of 
dried flowers on the wall, a bracket in the corner, a 
coronal of pressed forest-leaves in a frame, will, at 
little or no expense, impart a tone of cheerfulness, 
comfort, and taste to a room, the furniture of which 
is inexpensive, its ceiling low, and its walls un- 
adorned. The art of domestic decoration requires 
no antecedent study, and but a trifling outlay for 
materials. The time which it consumes is only a 
recreation from the less agreeable and more weari- 
some duties of the housewife. Let her collect dur' 



412 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPIXQ. 

iiig her rambles various kinds of cones, acorns, and 
particularly all specimens that are perfect, and keep 
them in a little box by themselves. In another she 
may jout away all bits of bright-colored ribbon. or 
fancy dc-laines, to be used in ornamental work. 
Pieces of pasteboard" Avill come in requisition, and 
odd bits of thin board. With these stores, and such 
as will inevitably accumulate in a family, she ma}' 
from time to time place upon the walls of her room 
a variety of graceful ornaments, w^hich strengthen 
the nameless spell which fascinates us in the word 
home. One of the prettiest and most effective 
ornaments, in completing the furniture of a room, is 
a handsomely finished bracket, to be fastened in a 
corner of the room, or in the space between two 
windows. Design No. I. rein-esents the various 
parts of such a bracket, together with the vase 
which stands upon it, and which is to be tilled with 
artificial flowers and grasses, or with any bouquet 
which does not require water. Figure 1 represents 




DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 



413 



the top of the bracket upon which the vase is to 
stand. It is made of stiff pasteboard, and covered 
on the top with cloth of some kind ; black or 
brown cambric will answer very well for the pur- 
pose. Figure 2 is also a piece of stiff pasteboard. 



covered with cambric like the first piece, to which it 
is strongly sewed ; the sides g h and d c fittiug each 
other nicely. These form the top and back of the 
bracket. Figure 3 is the front piece. To make this, 




85* 



414 



THE nilLOSOPlIY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 



the materials required are pasteboard, some pretty 
broadcloth to cover it, cones and acorns for the orna- 
mental work, and allspice for the fringe. Cut the 
patterns Avith exactness, first in paper, then in paste- 
board. Let the length a eb exactly correspond with 
df c. After covering the pasteboard, sew all around 
the edge cone leaves, lapping them one over the 
other, so as to hide the stitches. Then sew on the 
cones and acorns, to form the bouquets x y z. Then 
string tlie^ allspice on a strong black linen thread, 
festooning as in the cut, and attach the acorns. 

The front piece is now done, and must be sewed 
firmly on to the other tAvo sides, a eb will fit per- 
fectly d f c, g I will fit a i, and h m, b k. The 
bracket is now completed. This style is designed 
for the middle of a wall, or the space between two 
Avindows, or a Avindow and a door. If it is desired 
to fit the bracket into a corner, then Fig. 5 must be 
used for the shape of the 
top piece or shelf. The 
front or curved edge of 
Fig. 5 projects into the 
room. If this shape is 
chosen, a thin board is 
preferable to pasteboard, 
and the front piece may be 
fastened to it by tacks. 




Fia. 5. 



DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 



415 




FiG. 4. 



To make the vase, Fig. 4, the first thing to be 
considered is to have it propor- 
tioned to the size of the bracket. 
If the line d c h fifteen inches 
long, let the vase be from six to 
eight inches in height. Cut out 
a paper pattern, like Fig. 4, and 
from this cut four pasteboard 
shapes exactly like the pattern, 
sew them together, and fit in a 
square piece of pasteboard at the 
bottom. The vase is now ready 
to receive its covering, which is 
prepared in the following manner : Take a quan- 
tity of small white quartz jjebbles. In some parts 
of the country, as in Arkansas and Missouri, agate 
pebbles can be obtained, and are far more beautiful 
for this purpose than quartz. "With a strong ham- 
mer break these pebbles, and select from the mass 
fragments where the fracture is smooth and hand- 
some. When you have obtained a sufficient quan- 
tity, melt in a tin dish, placed in hot water, an 
ounce or two of white glue, spread it thickly over 
one face of the pasteboard, and immediately before 
it has time to cool dash upon it a handful of the 
pebbles, and continue to do so until every part is 
covered. The efiects produced by this purely acci- 



416 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

dental arrangement of the stones are finer than 
could be obtain. 'd by the most careful setting. 
Proceed in the same way with the other three sides, 
and the vase Avill be done. Little interstices may 
be filled by touching them with the glue and throw- 
ing upon them small fragments of the crushed peb- 
ble. This vase, filled and placed on the bracket, 
gives a beautiful finish to the corner or side of a 
room. The size of this bracket must be propor- 
tioned to that of the room. In a parlor or sitting- 
room of the ordinary size, say fifteen feet by 
eighteen, let the line d c be about fifteen inches 
long and the rest of the bracket in proportion to 
this length. Upon a bracket made in this way, for 
the corner of the room, a clock may be placed, or a 
statuette. In this decoration it would l^e seen that 
the only outlay of money required is for the allspice 
and fflue. All the other materials need cost nothing; 
but the trouble of collectina; them. 

If handsome pebbles are not to be had make a 
collection of small shells, wash them very clean, and 
mix so as to have a great variety of hues, but the 
same size. 

Attach with glue, in the same manner as the 
stones. In some cases, where the colors are in 
strong contrast, a sort of rude ]\Iosaic may thus 
be produced. 



DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 417 




Design No. II. 



Design No. II. represents a picture-frame made 
of cone leaves and acorns. It is very simple in its 
construction, and can be made by almost any one. 
For a small-sized frame, cut out two strips of paste- 
board fourteen inches long by two wide, and two 
other strips nine inches long and two inches wide. 
Have a large number of cone-leaves, and select 
those of the same size and shape, and sew on all 
around the edge of the pasteboard, taking care that 
the line of projection be the same in each. Then 
put on the second row, ail around, lapping the 
leaves over the first row so as to cover the stitches. 
Then alouGf the middle of the board sew on the 
acorns, and the}^ will cover the stitches of the sec- 
ond row. Finish these four strips in the same way, 



418 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

and then fasten the pieces together, allowing the 
ends to project as in the figure. Where the strips 
join each other sew on cones and acorns. Then 
have a wooden frame, made of thin strips of board, 
a little smaller than the pasteboard strips, and on 
this frame nail with small-headed tacks the cone 
frame. Of coursathe cone leaves will not be sewed 
on to that part of the under strip which lies at the 
crossing. The frame is now ready to be varnished. 
When that is done it is ready for the glass and 
picture. 

A very pretty frame, resembling fine carved work, 
may be made from butternuts. The only implements 
necessary will bo a vice to hold the nuts firmly and 
a very small panel saw. Having procured a quan- 
tity of the nuts, place them one by one in the vice 
and saw them off about an eio-hth of an inch in 
thickness. Then, on a frame of stained pine of the 
size and shape required, fasten these pieces with 
glue, and in the corners of the frame glue cones and 
acorns. There is room for the display of a just 
taste in selecting proper pictures for these rustic 
designs. An engraving of severe classical beauty, 
such, for instance, as Dante and Beatrice, is out of 
place in rustic surroundings. Flower and fruit 
pieces, and pictures of country scenes, and objects 
look best in home-made frames. 



DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 



419 



^\d 




Design No. III. 



Design No. III. represents a card-receiver, and 
is made thus : Cut out two pieces of pasteboard, 
one tlie shape of a d c e, and the other a b c e. 
Cover the first "with silk or satin of any tint you 
prefer. Sew around Lhe edge ado a row of cone- 
leaves. The piece a b c e may be covered with 
satin, like the other, and the ornaments t v put on 
to it with an edge of cone-leaves all around it, or it 
may be covered with solid cone-work. Fasten the 
two sides together, sew on the ornaments at a and c. 
The pendent acorns are attached by strings of all- 



420 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF IIOUSE-KEEPIXG. 



spice, and the festoons from a and c to d are mado 
of the same material. Sew on a handsome loop 
firmly at d and the cornucopia is complete. 




Design No. rv. 



Design No. IV. rejiresents a very pretty par- 
lor ornament, and is easily made. The cross is 
of black walnut, or some other dark wood, fastened 
on to a sheet of white Bristol-board. Let the pieces 



DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 421 

be about the thickness of veneering, and glued 
together neatly before being placed on the board. 
At the foot of the cross, delicate mosses are fastened 
■with thread or gum-arabic. The flowers may be 
found in our pastures, and are commonly known as 
"Live-forever," or "Poverty-Aveed." They can be 
colored red, pink, yellow, and Irish moss and 
delicate grasses formed into a graceful wreath and 
fastened upon the cross. The whole, when finished, 
should be set in a deep frame and covered witli a 
glass, swelling in the middle, like the crystal of a 
watch. 

A pretty match-piece for this may be made by 
weavino^ a delicate half-basket of straw, fillino: it 
with flowers and mosses, and fastening it on card- 
board. This is to be framed in the same manner 
as Design No. IV., and is represented in Design 
No. V. 




Design No. V. 



422 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

Very ornamental and tasteful boxes may be made 
for the toilet in many ways. Some of the prettiest 
styles, though a little old-fashioned, are made of 
ground-glass. Any glazier or carpenter can cut the 
glass for 3'ou, and the rest is easily done. Procm*e 
the following pieces : Four of an oblong form, pre- 
cisely the same in length and breadth, — these will 
form the top and bottom, back and front; and two 
others equal in depth to the back and front, and in 
breadth to the top and bottom, for the ends. To 
insure accuracy, it will be best to cut and fit the 
patterns in pasteboard, and have the glass cut pre- 
cisely like the patterns. The next step is to bind 
the edges of each of the pieces with narrow ribbon. 
This is easily done. Begin at one corner of the 
glass, and carry the ribbon round the edge of the 
glass nntil it is brought to the corner where you 
commenced, and sew the two ends neatly and firmly 
together. Then press the ribbon down on each side 
of the glass, and plait it at each of the corners. The 
plaits mu;t be fastened by several stitches, and 
when they are all fastened, the ribbon will be so 
stretched on both sides as to lie close to the surface 
of the glass, which will thus be completely and se- 
curely bound. Silk of the same color as the ribbon 
should be nsed in sewing the corners, and the ribbon 
should be kept tight and stitched securely at the 



DOMESTIC AECHITECTUllE, ETC. 423 

plaits, or the box will not be firm enough to retain 
its shape. 

When all the pieces are bound, they may be 
firmly stitched together at the corners, upon ^vhich 
little boAvs of ribbon should be placed to conceal the 
stitches. The box must then be mounted on small 
knobs. These may be large beads or buttons, 
fastened to the binding of the four corners, at the 
bottom. The cover, after being bound, should be 
stitched at the corners to those of the back ; thus 
having hinges of sewing-silk. To lift the cover, a 
bit of ribbon, terminating in a bow, must be tacked 
to the centre of the front binding, and the cover 
may be prevented from falling back by two pieces 
of ribbon, of equal length, being tacked to the 
corners of the front and the front corners of the lid. 
Such a box is represented in Design No. VI. 




Design No. VI. 



424 



THE rniLOSOPIIY OF HOUSE-KEEPINa. 



Ill like manner, a great variety of boxes of dif- 
ferent sliape may be made and ornamented with 
beads, bugles, or shells; the trimmings, in all cases, 
being fastened to the ribbon-binding. Looking- 
glass may be employed, instead of ground-glass, for 
the sides, front, and cover of the box, and the edges 
ornamented with strips of figured gold paper. 

Design 'No. VII. is 
a mirror and pincushion- 
box, of six sides, and is 
intended. to stand open. 
The box is filled to the top 
with wool or hair, and cov- 
ered with silk. In the 
centre is a star. The cover 
is made of looking-glass, 
and lined on the top Avith 
silk, the same in color as 

Design No. VII. the binding. 

Brackets of various sizes and shapes are now very 
fashionable and useful ornaments in parlors and 
sitting-rooms. They may be of domestic manufac- 
ture. The designs we give were furnished us by a 
lady who invented and made them with her own 
hands ; and she was, with reason, far prouder of 
them than if thc}^ had l)een purchased at a furniture 
store. To make these, procure a pine board, or 




DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 425 

one of black walnut, of the width you wish your 
bracket. Pine is preferred, as it is easily worked, 
and, when stained and varnished, looks almost as 
well as l)lack walnut, or mahogany. Cedar splin- 
ters too readily, and cigar-boxes are not thick 
enough but for brackets of very small size. Of 
tools, you will need a key-hole saw, a bit of the 
same size as the holes you wish to bore, and a sharp 
jack-knife. Having procured these, take a piece of 
stiff paper, and mark out your pattern, and cut it 
out just as you -wish it to look in the wood. Then 
lay 3'our paper pattern down on the wood, and mark 
it out with a pencil. With the bit, the knife, and 
the saw, you will then remove all the Avood that is 
to be taken away, and scrape the edges smooth with 
a piece of glass. From any painter or carpenter 
you can procure materials to stain it the color you 
Avish, after you have fastened the pieces together 
with glue, or small headless tacks, — perhaps with 
both. 

Most ladies, unless they have a husband or brother 
who is a joiner, Avill find it advisable to have the 
boards dressed and fitted by a workman. The be- 
ginner Avill be likely to bruise or cut away the edges 
and corners. This must be carefully avoided, as 
good efiect can be produced only by sharpness and 

perfection of outline. In boring the holes, be care- 
36* 



426 



THE rillLOSOPllY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 



fn] not to press upon the bit when the point is 
through. All the tools must be sharp and free 
of rust, so as to bore a hole that is perfectly smooth 
and clearly defined. 



Design No. YIII. 





Fig. 2. 



rig. 1. 
Design Xo. YIII., 
Fig. 2, represents one 
side of a large, hand- 
some, corner bracket, 
two feet in length, from 
the extreme top to the 
bottom, and one foot in 
width. The two sides 
are made just alike and 
fastened together with 
glue and headless tacks, 



or brads, and the shelf, Fig. 1, is glued in. 



DOMESTIC AKCIIITECTUllE, ETC. 
Design No. IX. 



42T 





Fig. 2. 



Fig. 1. 

Design No. IX. ,Fig. 1 , is a small 
bracket for the side of a room, 
a foot long, and proportionately 
wide. We ffive it as an excellent 
pattern for beginners. The fig- 
ure is so simple that little skill 




428 THE PHILOSOPHY of house-keeping. 

is required to fol- 
low it. Get a 
smooth, Avhite- 
pine board, free 
from knots, and 
pilhyiii its grain, 
^''s- 3. (^jut the fiirure in 

pasteboard, first, and then mark it by the pasteboard 
on the wood. See that the bracket, the support, 
and the shelf, fit perfectl}^ before commencing to 
carve. Fig. 2 is the support for the shelf, and 
Fig. 3 the shelf. 

DIRECTIONS FOR INLVKING PHANTOM BOUQUETS. 

There is no more beautiful ornament for a parlor 
table than a bouquet of skeleton leaves, or phantom 
flowers ; and, with the hope that some of our lady 
readers may be induced to try their skill and taste 
in producing one of these exquisite collections, we 
give directi&ns as to their mode of procedure. 

Procure a large open-mouthed jar or earthen 
basin, of a size sufiicient to contain all the leaves 
you wish to skeletonize ; place it in a warm place, 
in the open air, and fill it two-thirds full with rain- 
water. In June, gather the most perfect leaves 
you can find from the various poplar-trees, the sil- 
ver aspen, tulip, and Lombardy poplar, the Norway 



i 



DOIVIESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 429 

maple, the European sycamore, the elm, the Deiitzia 
scalra, the magnolia, and witch-hazel. Place them 
in the jar, and cover Avith a newspaper or some 
Tteight, to keep all the leaves under the water. 
Leave them there to macerate, which will require 
several weeks. 

In July, gather leaves from the willow, the En- 
glish ash, the everlasting pea, the beech, hickory, 
and chestnut ; the dwarf-pear, the rose, the sassa- 
fras, and althca ; the white-fringe tree, the wistaria, 
bignonia, greenbrier, and wild yam ; and, the last 
of July, the Dutchman's pipe. As the leaves of the 
beech, hickory, and chestnut, the oak, walnut, and 
birch contain tannin, they must be put in a jar by 
themselves to macerate, which, in some cases, will 
require several months. A few drops of muriatic 
acid put in the water in which they are placed w^ill 
hasten the process of maceration. 

At any time, the leaves of the camelia, japonica, 
the Cape jasmin, the laurestina, the caoutchouc, the 
holly, the box, the wild cherry, and the ivy may be 
gathered. The last named must be mature, and a 
year old, or the framework of the leaf will not en- 
dure the process of maceration, and become a mass 
of pulp. It will require months of soaking to re- 
move the cellular tissue from many of these leaves, 
but the patience spent in waiting will be amply 



430 THE PIIILOSOrilY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

repaid by the beauty of the leaves when perfectly 
skeletonized. 

About six Avecks after the first parcel of leaves 
have been put to macerate, remove the cover, and, 
witli the hand or a wooden spoon, carefully raise 
the leaves, and place them in "vvarm water ; then rub 
them gently between the fingers, to remove the cel- 
lular tissue. "With some, a brush will be needed to 
cleanse them perfectly ; but in using a brush, a soft 
tooth-brush is best. Lay the leaf on a smooth, flat 
surface. 

Some of the leaves will be found perfectly clear. 
These should be washed in clean water, and pressed 
in a soft towel till quite dry, and laid carefully 
away in a box, to await the bleaching process when 
all the other leaves are macerated. 

Such as are found imperfectly skeletonized must 
be jDlaced in soft water again, and left in a warm, 
sunny place till finished. If their stems are lost, 
they can be replaced easily when tlie bouquet is made 
up, by stifiening a piece of coarse spool-cotton with 
gum-arabic, and placing it, when wet, on the end 
of the leaf. 

No bouquet is perfect that docs not contain a spray 
of fern leaves. These must be gathered while the 
flowers are on the back ot the leaves, and carefully 



DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 431 

laid away in a book until you are ready for the 
bleaching process. 

In the fall, you will gather seed-vessels. The 
ground-cherry family furnish some very pretty va- 
rieties. Two or three weeks will suffice for their 
preparation, when they may be washed by passing 
them rapidly to and fro in hot Avater. The wild hop 
will macerate in two weeks, and is very beautiful. 
Before bleaching, make an incision in one side, and 
remove the seed. This side may be placed in the 
bouquet so as not to show where it Avas pierced. 

The blue nicandra is indispensable in a phantom 
bouquet, and may be used in their natural form or 
to represent buds. 

The lobelia, the skull-cap, the wild cucumber, the 
poppy, the shell-flower, the mallows, the Jerusalem 
cherry, the hydrangea (dried flowers), the lily of 
the valley (dried flowers), may all lend their beauty 
to complete the perfect bouquet. 

"When 3'our collection is made, the next process 
is that of bleaching the leaves, flowers, and seed- 
vessels. It requires the greatest care ; for on the 
whiteness of all its jaarts the perfect beauty of the 
bouquet depends. 

Take in the proportion of five ounces of strong 
chloride of lime to a quart of cold soft water ; i^ress 
out all the lumps, and let it stand an hour or two ; 



432 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

then remove any scum that may be floating on the 
top, and pour the liquid oS from the lime, "which has 
been precipitated to the bottom. Cork tightly, and 
keep in a cool place. 

Then take two glass jars, one for leaves and the 
other for seed-vessels, and arrange the specimens 
with the stems downward ; cover with clear soft 
water, and add two tablespoonfals of the bleaching 
solution to every pint of water. Cover the jar 
tightly, and set in a warm place. In from six to 
twelve hours, some of the leaves will be seen to be 
entirely white, and they must be taken out carefully 
with the hand, and laid in clean warm Avatcr. If 
they remain too long in the jar, the lime will cause 
them to be very tender. Wash them several times 
in fresh water, dry them in the folds of a towel; and 
lay them away between the leaves of a book. 

In bleaching ferns, great care must be taken to 
insure success. Take them from the book, and 
gently curl them round the sides of the jar, rather 
than place them with the stems downward, as the 
leaves will be very dry and brittle. The smaller 
leaflets will occupy the centre of the jar, which may 
then be filled with warm soft water, and the bleach- 
ing solution added in the same proportion as above 
stated. Cover the jar tightly, and set in a warm 
place for a day ; then pour off the water gently, and 



DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 433 

put in fresh, as before. Let them lie two tlays in 
this second water, and change again. In three or 
four days they will begin to turn white at the edges, 
and as soon as they are entirely white they should 
be removed from the water. If part of a spray 
bleaches before the rest, cut off the white part, and 
put the other back to finish. The two pieces can be 
afterwards joined together with gum-arabic. The 
water must be changed several times while bleach- 
ing a lot of ferns, and it will require one or two 
weeks. 

The sprays, when perfectly white, must be re- 
moved gently from the jar, holding them by the 
stem, and thoroughly rinsed several times in Avater. 
Unless all the chlorine is removed from them, they 
will, after a while, turn yellow. "When they are 
ready to be dried, let them lie on the top of the 
water, and pass under them a sheet of unsized white 
paper, upon which they may be lifted out of the 
water, and laid on a dry towel. If they are not in 
the proper shape, use the point of a pin in straight- 
ening them. "When all the water is absorbed, lay 
them between two sheets of unsized white paper, 
and put them in a book. "When all the ferns are in 
the book, place a heavy Av^eight on it, so they wdl 
dry smoothly, and keep them in the book till they 

are wanted for the bouquet. 
37 



434 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

There is a preparation for bleaching ferns and 
flowers, as Avell as leaves, made hy Tilton & Co., 
of Boston, -which is very highly recommended, and 
said to be superior to chloride of lime, which is quite 
severe, and apt to destroy the delicate tissues while 
bleaching them. This preparation is to be used in 
the proportion of half a teacupful to a pint of 
water. 

It noAV remains to arrange them into a bouquet. 
A glass case will be found indispensable to pre- 
serve them. If a frame is used, with a convex 
glass, the background must be of dark velvet, to 
bring out the delicate tissues. Arrange the leaves, 
ferns, and Uowers as in the ordinary bouquet. If 
the stems have been broken off in the process of 
bleaching or maceration, they may be supplied by 
taking spool-cotton, and making it very stiff Avitli 
gum-arabic, and sticking them to the leaf, taking 
care to have the stem proportioned to the size of 
the leaf. The point where the stems meet may be 
concealed by a large seed-vessel. The stramoni- 
ums are liable to turn yellow, and, though very 
beautiful when first made, are generally discarded. 

If a shade is used with a stand, first form a cush- 
ion of black or very dark velvet, and glue it on to 
the stand. Fasten the stems securely, with thick 
mucilage, into a hole made in the centre of the 



D03IESTIC ARCHITECTURE, ETC. 485 

cushion, and let the leaves bend down over the 
cushion ; then prepare a few choice sprays of leaves, 
flowers, and ferns, and place them in the centre. 
Be careful to have the larger leaves and seed-vessels 
at or near the bottom, and those more delicate 
toward the top. If it is desired to have a tall 
bouquet, the leaves may be tied with spool-cotton 
around a white wound bonnet-wire. Conceal the 
upper end of the wire with white wax, and let the 
lower end extend down through the centre of 
the cushion into the wood, so as to be entirely firm. 

If desired, the leaves may be wreathed around a 
cross of black velvet or white alum crystals, and 
arranged with skill and taste so as to produce very 
happy effects. 

Let there be a groove in the stand, and a piece 
of chenille outside the glass, to prevent any dust 
from marring the beautiful phantom within. It will 
endanger the glass to fasten it down, as the expan- 
sion and contraction of heat and cold wi)l causo it 
to break. 



136 Tii-'". PHILOSOPHY OP HOUSE-KEEPING. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

WAYS OF aiAKIXG PIX-MONEY. 

There is no form of civilization that has so great 
an effect on the condition of woman as ours here 
in America. Our public schools are open alike to 
both sexes ; so are the high schools, and some of 
our colleges. The education of the boy and girl 
proceeds by the same steps, and over nearly the 
same course, until maturity approaches, and then 
there is "a parting of the wa^'s." 

The young man masters a trade, and soon finds 
himself able to earn from two-and-a-half to four 
dollars a day. His sister, pressed by the same ne- 
cessity, enters one of the few occupations that are 
open to her sex, and finds that her daily wages are 
often less than half the sum he receives. He can 
generally earn three dollars with his hammer, his 
saw, or his trowel, while she, laboring the same 
number of hours, with equal patience and steadi- 
ness, is thought to be doing well if she receives a 
dollar and a quarter or a dollar and a half. The 
question — why is this? — has no doubt occurred 
to tens of thousands of young women in our land, 
and been the theme of endless discussion in village 



WAYS OP MAKING PIN-MONEY. 4S7 

debates and in newspaper editorials. Nor is the in- 
vestigation ended. The American mind, while 
intensely practical in action, is prone to abstraction 
and radicalism on all political questions. As a 
nation, we are now asking ourselves, — should the 
color of the skin be a ground for i^olitical distinc- 
tions? One easy and natural step leads us to the 
next query. Why ought difference in sex to be a 
ground for political distinctions? But this chapter 
is not a discussion on the riofhts of women. There 
is one franchise that never has been and will not be 
denied any human being in this countrj^ and that is 
the right of selecting that form of industry which is 
best suited to his or her strength and taste, and 
which pays the best. 

We do not regard the heading of our chapter as 
altogether felicitous. It refers to an important 
branch of the subject of female labor, and jDerhaps 
the one which will interest the greatest number of 
readers. 

In pointing out various ways in which pin-money 
can be earned, Ave presuppose for the young woman 
a home, and domestic duties which engross a por- 
tion, but not all of her time. By early rising and 
executive movements, she may be able to command 
one, two, and many days five or seven hours, which 
87* 



438 THE PHILOSOPHY OP HOUSE-KEEPING. 

she would very gladly devote to some form of in- 
dustry which would pay directly, and in money. 

The most obvious mode is by the needle. But 
this avenue, because obvious, is always overcrowded. 
A woman must have either remarkable skill and 
taste, or she must devote a great deal of time, — 
hours snatched from sleep, from recreation, from 
her family, and moments pilfered from the meal- 
time, — in order to realize anything considerable. 
In sewing, one comes in competition with that great 
and ever-growing class, for whom that little fragile 
rod of steel, with its slender filament, is the sole 
bar against hunger, the only means of securing 
shelter, the one thread that holds them from de- 
spair, — from infamy. The hardest earned bread 
in America is bought Avith the proceeds of the needle, 
and the more persons, not in necessitous circum- 
stances, that seek this way of earning a dollar, or 
a fraction of a dollar a day, by Vvorking-in their 
spare time, the lower become the wages of sewing- 
women, the dryer their little loaf, the smaller their 
cup, the harder their bed. Hence, charitable con- 
siderations should induce the Avomau who is seeking 
for some way of earning a few dollars each month 
for pin-money, to look away from the needle and 
the sewing-machine, if she have one. The flimily 
clothing, almost every article of it, may, as we have 



WAYS OF MAKING PIN-MONEY. 439 

shown ill a previous chapter, be made up at home. 
Lut bej^ond that, let the wife and daughter, whose 
male protectors arc industrious and thrifty, not 
look. If she takes pants and vests to malvc, shoes 
to bind, whips or pahii-leaf Iiats to braid, suspen- 
ders to trim, she adds the effect of one more needle 
to reduce the price of that grade of labor ; she 
jostles the weary steps of some sister-worker less 
fortunate than herself. She earns, it is true, a few 
yards of trimming, a bunch or two of artificial 
flowers, a dozen of buttons, another feather ; but, in 
so doing, she has broken the crust on some humble 
table, she has condemned some widow to walk the 
flags of a great city in shoes that do not keep out 
the rain and the snow. 

Thus much of nco^ative su2:2;estion. Now, let us 
turn from a region of despondency and gloom, from 
the weary clatter of the machine that is running 
from morn till bedtime on " custom work," from 
the bent figure and the aching eyes. Let us go out 
of doors. What, methinks I hear some fair one 
say, does the author of the Philosophy of House- 
keeping wish to see the daughters of America out 
in the field with rake and pitchfork, with spade and 
hoe, their white hands blistered with the plough- 
handles, and stained from pulling weeds? Not 
that, gentle indignant. Nothing rough or dirty, or 



440 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPIN-G. 

slavish, for our women. AVliat then? Xow let us 
look at the .subject ealmly ; let us reconnoitre this 
comparatively new country. 

In the first place, what makes America the ea- 
siest, freest, best country on earth for the poor of 
all races and conditions? Mainly this: because 
land is cheaper here than in any other country, not 
the home of barbarians; because it requires so little 
industry, so little tact, or thrift, or patience, to en- 
able any man to put forty acres of free soil under 
his feet, and secure a perfect and indefeasible title 
to tlie same. Now, when the farmer, the laborer, 
the clerk, the mechanic, has a few acres for his 
homestead, — some have found " ten acres enough ; " 
others want only three, — Avhat can his wife or his 
daughter do to avail themselves of this fact, to 
make the most of this advantage, to derive the 
fullest results from this possession? Let us see. 

Turn back, now, to the chapter on "Cows, Hens, 
and Bees," and read the last half of it again. It 
requires no strength or hard labor to take care of 
i'hickens or of bees. The attention must be quite 
regular and constant, but it interferes very little 
with other pursuits ; it keeps one for an hour or 
more every day in the open air. The demands of 
these animals must be studied. Poultry must have 
room, air, food suitable and sufficient in amount; 



WAYS OF MAKING PIN-MONEY. 441 

but this knowledge and these conditions arc readily 
understood, and the qnestion of profitableness is 
easil}^ settled. It takes no more food to fatten a 
hundred pounds' weight of poultry than to fatten 
the same uumber of pounds in pork ; and poultry 
is worth from a third to a half more hy the pound 
than pork. This makes no account of the eggs, 
which are more than an equivalent for all that the 
hen eats. A recent European writer on poultry- 
breeding says that in every hen there are the 
ovules, or little germs, of all the eggs it is possible 
for her to lay in a lifetime ; these the microscope 
reveals, and enables us to know that under favor- 
able conditions every hen should be good for over 
five hundred eggs distributed over nine years, in 
the following proportion : First year after birth, 
15 to 20; second, 100 to 120; third, 120 to 135; 
fourth, 100 to 115 ; fifth, 60 to 80 ; sixth, 50 to 60 ; 
seventh, 35 to 40; eighth, 15 to 20; ninth, 1 to 
10. These are the possibilities in egg-producing. 
Of course actual experience falls short of these high 
figures, mainly because few hens are as perfectly 
taken care of as they should be. 

The same is moi'e emphatically true of bees. As 
a rule, we take less than half as much honey from 
the hive in this country as might easily be done, 
and the reason is that our men are too busy with 



442 THE PHILOSOPHY GP HOUSE-KEEPING. 

rougher labors, and our Avomen too much engrossed 
with in-door work, to give the attention to the 
curious and exemplary little worker which she de- 
serves, and Avhich she generously repays. All the 
successful bee-keepers will warrant us in the state- 
ment that it is practicable to take twenty joounds 
from a hive, on an average, and that one liive will, 
in three or four years, multiply so as to give fifty. 
Thus, a thousand pounds a year might reward a 
faithful devotion to this branch of small farming. 

Let any woman Avho has made a thousand or five 
hundred pounds of honey a year, say whether she 
knows of any way in which it is possible for her to 
make from a hundred to two hundred and fifty dol- 
lars with so much ease, comfort, and satisfaction. 

In all regions where a considerable city is within 
a day's ride by railroad, and that description will 
soon apply to every section east of the Mississippi, 
fruit-growing opens a wide, fertile, and fragrant 
field for female industry. It requires little hard 
work. The vines are near the house, both for con- 
venience of access and for the application of ma- 
nures. 

Fruit-trees and vines do not require heavy manur- 
ing ; for they are not, like corn, wheat, cabbages, 
and tobacco, large consumers of the fertilizing salts. 

The suds and dish-water of the kitchen, if properly 



WAYS OF MAKING PIN-MONEY. 443 

applied, together with rotten leaves and weeds, form 
the best dressing for the vines of the raspberry and 
blackberry. 

So of the strawberry. It does not require a fertile 
soil nor high manuring. A square bed, ten steps 
across, will 3'ield an abundance for one fomily, and 
the eighth of an acre, Avell cultivated, can be made 
to give an income of a hundred dollars each return- 
ing June. A little rake, a light hoe, a basket to 
carry leaves in, and a watering-pot, are all that one 
needs to keep a strawberry-bed, once established, 
in hi2;h condition : and no labor connected with it is 
harder than sweeping a parlor or ironing a muslin 
dress. 

So, also, grape culture is admirably adapted to 
the taste and strength of women. Some heavy 
labor is at first required in spading up the soil and 
in laying drains ; but the muscle of an Irishman can 
be subsidized at a dollar and a half a day. The 
brain to direct him is the important thing. As with 
the fruits above mentioned, the fertilizers that grape- 
vines require are best supplied from the offal of the 
house, and from the decaying vegetable matter of 
the door-yard and garden. The pruning of the 
vines ; the removal of worms and noxious insects ; 
the training of the tendrils ; the picking of the dark 
purple or the translucent clusters, and laying them 



444 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HO USE-KEEPING'. 

tenderly in pasteboard boxes ; tyiui^ them on poles, 
or carrying them to the -svine-prcss, — can woman be 
engaged in occupation more graceful, more charm- 
ing, and wholesome? in work that conduces more 
to purity of taste, cheerfulness of temper, or serenity 
of mind ? 

But, one is ver}' properly reminded that it is not 
alwaj's summer ; that the season ^vhen bees can 
work, and young chickens are hatched, when vines 
are pruned or trailed, and fruits gathered, is in no 
part of the country over eight months, and, in most 
States, not fully six. IIow shall the winter hours 
of our heroine be spent ? for surely she must now 
abandon her flowery domain to the chilling winds 
and the searching? frosts. 

Her bees require only to be kept where it is dry 
and moderately warm. They will consum'e far less 
honey thus than when fully exposed to the cold. 
The winter care of poultry is given in detail in the 
chapter already alluded to. 

Suppose all these matters duly attended to. Still, 
during the long winter evenin2rs, abundant leisure 
remains. IIow shall she employ it at the best ad- 
vantage ? 

As an introductory remark, and one that throws 
a general light on the subject, let it be remembered 
that the disj^lay of skill and taste in any department 



WAYS OP MAKING PIX-MONLY. 445 

is certain to be appreciated by some one, and some- 
where to find a remuneration. In a preceding chapter 
a variety of household decorations are described, 
such as whiter bouquets and WTeaths, cone-work, 
pebble vases, brackets of various kinds, and the 
making of tasteful glass boxes. Let the young lady 
who wishes to realize a moderate income, — a few 
dollars of pin-moue}', — select some one of these 
modes or styles of decoration, and attain a high de- 
gree of skill and perfection in it. 

Her own sitting-room will show the extent of her 
accomplishment in this line ; and if her Avishes be- 
come known, orders will be given her from those 
who have more of money than of patience and skill. 

There is another avenue that, to a lady AA'ho has 
skill with her brush, is at present as agreeable, and 
perhaps as remunerative as any in-door pursuit. 
Fans, paper-knives, glove-boxes, toilet-boxes, writ- 
injT-desks, and various other articles are made of 
some hard, white wood, as the holly, the gum, the 
box, or the pear-tree, and the surface polished 
smooth, without oil or varnish. In this state they 
can be obtained at comparatively low prices, and 
their value greatl}' enhanced by being embellished 
with pictures of flowers, birds, fishes, beetles, but- 
terflies, and shells, done in fine water-colors. The 

class of those whose wealth enables them to gratify 
38 



446 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

their taste for such elegances is rapidly increasing, 
and all that a lady need to be assured of is her own 
skill and taste in such decorations. All she requires 
is proficiency in Avatcr-colors. She can then obtain 
these articles at wholesale price by purchasing quite 
a number at a time, and secure a market among 
affluent acquaintances, or by business relations "vvith 
a fancy store. The room for the display t)f taste is 
boundless, and, if she wields the pencil Avith facility, 
a dollar, and often much more than that, can be 
earned in an industrious sittins; of two hours. 

The pressing and tasteful grouping of sea-mosses 
on successive pages of an album is one of the most 
refined and graceful arts in which a ladj^'s time can 
be employed. Collections of this description, well 
prepared, often command good prices, and readily 
find purchasers. The same reniark applies to col- 
lections of sea-shells and sea-Avashed pebbles, when 
fastened to frames or put into glass vases in such a 
way as to show variegated colors and highly polished 
surfaces. 

In pursuits and enterprises such as have been 
rather hinted at than set forth, the fireside hours of 
winter may be made a source of profit as well as 
interest. 

In this connection should be mentioned the hijrh 
prices often commanded for elegant embroideries 



WAYS OP MAKIIxCl PIN-MONEY. 447 

and knitting and crochet "work in fine woollen of 
ricli colors. Shawls, clouds, hoods, and afghans, 
wrought after tasteful patterns, may occupy the 
fingers while the eye is running down the pages of 
a book, or the mind engaged in pleasant conversa- 
tion. Such occupation is not Avork, and, when 
directed by an eye well educated in the effects of 
colors, may produce articles of great l)eauty and 
value. 

But when spring opens, and the lady sees now 
and then an adventurous bee taking notes of the 
situation, and fl3'ing away for the nectarine cups of 
the early flowers, let her derive wisdom from the 
lesson, and lay aside the glue, the pencil, and the 
crochet-needle. 

Nature is inviting her abroad, and, in the out- 
door occupations here recommended, will yield her 
generous returns, whether of money, of happiness, 
or of health. 



448 THE PHILO.SUl'flY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

TRAIXIXG OF SERVANTS AND CHILDREN. 

As the coiintiy increases in material prosperit}', 
and at the same time in population, the distinctions 
that arise from v/ealth are becoming wider, and a 
greater number of families are raised above the 
necessity of laboring at household tasks, "while a 
corresponding proportion, especially of females, are 
•williniT to en2:aire as domestic servants for moderate 
•wages and a pleasant home. 

There is now the same prejudice which has ex- 
isted from early times against the employment of 
servants among the most thrifty and energetic house- 
keepers. The feeling is that it is preferable to do 
one's own work rather than be annoyed by the care- 
lessness, the wastefulness, the want of forethought on 
the part of an unskilled and irresponsible employee, 
or submit to the dictation and bear with the irrita- 
bility of one who mtiy be effective enough, but is 
unwilling to be regarded as a servant. In this way 
many a woman of the finest social talents and high 
executive ability has unnecessarily condemned her- 
self to a life of confinement and household drudgery, 
when her circumstances, and the income of her bus- 



TRAINING OP SERVANTS AND CHILDKEX. 449 

band, would with proper management have enabled 
her to live in exemption from daily and wearisome 
toil. 

In addition to the advantages of leisure, and the 
release from laborious drudgery, Avhich a lady may 
enjoy b}' having a servant at her command, she has 
it in her power to do that servant the most essential 
and permanent good, by teaching her and training 
her in the most expeditious and perfect modes of 
accomplishing household tasks. To do this, the 
house-keeper must herself understand how work 
should be done, or she cannot correctly estimate the 
excellence or the defects of her servant. She will 
not know when to praise or when to blame. Very 
few servants are so well endowed by nature as to 
be able to conduct in the best manner the ordinary 
domestic routine of a family without special instruc- 
tion ; but even one of feeble capacity may be so 
trained to work, and habituated to the most effec- 
tive modes of accomplishing her tasks, as to become 
valuable to her mistress, and capable of herself as- 
suming the responsibility and dignity of house- 
keeper in her own right. To this every servant 
aspires as the goal of her highest hopes, and this 
most natural and laudable ambition on her part may 
be made by a judicious mistress the most potent 

means of her improvement and elevation in the so- 

38* 



4r,0 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-Kl^EPING. 

cial scale. Almost every servant is desirous to 
learn some new accomplishment, and, promised 
this as a reward, may be induced to overcome some 
bad habit or undertake some additional labor. In 
all relations between superiors and subordinates 
there must be prizes and rewards as well as penal- 
ties to make these relations happy and beneficial to 
both parties. The skilful mistress will so blend 
and adapt these to the disjoosition and merits of her 
servant as to produce the most desirable results. 

For instance, a young servant ten or twelve years 
of age is introduced to ^our family, with perhaps 
almost the sole recommendation of willingness and 
a desire to please. She may be able to perform 
menial offices in the kitchen and about the house. 
These of course are wearisome and monotonous, and 
nothing will stinmlate her more, if she be at all am- 
bitious, than the promise that if she be faithful in 
these tasks she shall have hi£j;her duties assisfued her. 
If, for example, she does up her kitchen work 
mcel}^ she shall be permitted to sweep and dust 
the sitting-room, and, when she has achieved that, 
she may, as a great privilege, be trusted with the 
cleaning and arranging of the parlor, all under di- 
rection and superintendence of the mistress. In 
this way an vmtrained servant may in a 3'car or two 
be taught how to perform the ordinary work of a 



TRAINING OF SERVANTS AND CHILDDRN. 451 

family : the plain cooking, the washing and ironing, 
and the daily routine of household industry. 

We are not writing for that comparatively small 
class in the community Avho, as a matter of course, 
have their domestic labors conducted by a corps of 
well-trained servants, to whom they give the wages 
that their skill can command. The suggestions in 
this chapter are addressed to that far more numer- 
ous class, who either consider themselves called 
upon to do their own work, or must depend upon 
the assistance of raw or young servants. 

One of the first and most valuable lessons that 
the mistress can impress upon the mind of her ser- 
vant is the extreme advantage it will be to herself 
to become familiar with every department of house- 
hold labor. She may have a German or Irish girl 
who, accustomed to the routine of European fami- 
lies, may be an excellent laundress or chambermaid, 
but know nothing at all of cooking ; who may be 
very effective in the kitchen, but awkward around 
the table. Let such a girl be instructed in the 
necessities of American life, requiring as they do 
familiar acquaintance with the round of domestic 
industry, and let her feel that she is advancing 
every month in essential capability and in skill. 
No feeling will make her more cheerful and earnest 
in her daily tasks than this consciousness of im- 



452 THK PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

provement. Here, as in other relations between 
the employer and the employee, the trne interests 
of mistress and maid arc inseparable. Every ad- 
vantage which the girl enjoys, if judiciously man- 
aged, will make her services more grateful and 
invaluable. If she finds that the lady with whom 
she has her home takes real interest in her welfare 
and improvement, she will be lifted above the mere 
sordid consideration of earning her wages, and ren- 
der with cheerfulness services which money cannot 
buy and which money cannot reward. Only thus 
can a house-keeper secure for herself that rare prize, 
"an invaluable servant." 

The radical cause of the difBculty from which ten 
thousand housewives suffer, and of which they so 
loudly complain, is that they consider the pittance 
usually paid a servant as an ample return for their 
services. In one sense this is true. If a girl is 
unwilling to have charge of your kitchen at two 
dollars a week, and leaves for that reason, her place 
can readily be supplied. But in the great majority 
of cases a servant will not leave a kind and thought- 
ful mistress for a trifling pecuniary consideration. 
The girl should be made to feel that her moral well- 
being and her essential good, in every respect, are 
subjects of thought and care on the part of her em- 
ployer. Here, as in all other relations between 



TRAINING OF SERVANTS AXD CHILDREN. 453 

man and man, the law of benevolence or love is effi- 
cacious in securing the most beneficial and lasting 
results. 

No one obstacle in the way of assuring a genuine 
interest in the welfare of her servants will be found 
greater than the practice, which is far too prevalent, 
of making the faults, vices, and annoyances of 
servants the subject of gossiping complaint with 
her female acquaintances. The breath thus worse 
than wasted, if spent in kindly and judicious en- 
deavors to correct the faults of which she complains, 
would have the double effect of making her a better 
mistress and the girl a better servant. 

After reciting a long chapter of grievances of this 
sort to a friend, the lady feels that in self-justifica- 
tion she is bound to confirm her strictures by con- 
tinuing to see all the failings she has enumerated ; 
thus remaining unfit to commence the work of im- 
provement ; and the girl, soon finding all efforts to 
please in vain, either asks a dismission or relapses 
into the attitude of mechanical and brainless servi- 
tude. 

On the other hand, where a mistress sets herself 
earnestly at work to correct the errors and improve 
the understanding of a servant, she will feel far less 
disposition to expose those faults to others and in- 
crease tenfold the likelihood of removing them. 



454 THK PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPIXG. 

She comes to rcgui'd the gu'l more as she ^vould a 
child, and such a feeling, she may be sm-e, will create 
reciprocal confidence, aliection, and devotion on the 
part of the employee. 

In training young servants, I have met with the 
gKeatest success by the use of household catechisms, 
where, in a series of questions and answers plainly 
written out in simple language, the requirements of 
a servant are stated, and the best manner of execut- 
ing various household tasks is explicitly desciibed. 

For instance, in training a young dining-room 
servant, a list of all the articles commonly placed on 
a table, written in a clear, strong hand, in the order 
fn wihich a table is set, and pasted on the inside of 
the china-closet door, will be committed to mem- 
ory, and the house-keeper soon feels a certainty that 
everything required will be found on the table or 
on the sideboard. 

When it is expected of a servant to rise in time 
to prepare a seasonable breakfast, I have found o 
series of questions and answers like the following 
of the most essential service : — 

Q. What is the last thing to be seen to before 
goino^ to bed ? 

A. That my wood, kindling, and shavings or 
joaper are laid ready for the morning, and such dry 
fuel selected as will be sure to make a quick fire ; 



TRAINING OF SERVANis ^JD CHILDREN. 455 

tliiit the teakettle is filled, and the food to be cooked 
for breakfast is as much prepared as possible. 

Q. "What is the first thing to do in the morning? 
A. Kise earl}^ dress as quickly as possible, light 
the fire, and, while the stove is heating, wash my 
face and hands, and comb my hair. 
Q. What next? 

A. Get the coftce ready to make as soon as the 
teakettle boils, and commence the cooking, and at 
odd moments, as I can leave the stove, set the 
table. 

A manual for washing and ironing may be writ- 
ten out as follow* : — 

Q. What is the first step in washing? 
A. Have a good fire, and put on water in the 
boiler to heat. 
Q. What then? 

A. While the water is heating, sort over the 
clothes, putting the best articles by themselves, the 
second best in another pile, the calicoes, flannels, 
and stockings by themselves. 
Q. What is your next step? 
A. Get out the tubs, soap, and washboard, and, 
as soon as the water is hot enough, dip it into the 
tub, and wash out the best clothes first. 

As a suggestion is all that is intended, these ques- 
tions and answers need not be carried out. They 



456 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

mtiy be v;iri(>d to reach every depiirtmcnt of house- 
keeping, and to suit the routine of every family. 
The time and pains taken in writing them out, and 
teaching them, will he abundantly remunerated in 
the greatl}' increased facility and zest with which 
the girl will perform her tasks, and the fact of the 
rules being thus prescribed will make her far more 
careful and efficient. 

She will have the added satisfoction of knowing 
exactly how her mistress is to be pleased by the 
manner in which the work is done, and she will rec- 
ognize the justice of a correction when, by careless- 
ness or neglect of some of the written rules, the 
work is badly done. 

The time spent in doing over the ill-performed 
work of a young servant would be again and again 
saved by preparing such catechisms, and in the end 
a great amount of vexation spared both to the girl 
and her mistress. 

Except in households where economy is not of 
necessity a study, the mistress of the house must 
work, cither with her muscles in actual performance 
of the labor, or with her brains in regulating and 
superintending the unskilled labor of others ; and 
there is for a vast number an election as to Avhether 
they will pass a considerable part of each day in 
bondage to the dish-pan, the broom, and the wash- 



TRAINING OP SERVANTS AND CHILDREN. 457 

tub, or undertake the training, and bear with the 
inexperience of raw help. 

A conscientious and benevolent Avoman will easily 
see, that by choosing the latter she may very mucli 
enlarge the boundaries of her usefulness by send- 
ing out from her doors, every few years, a skilful, 
faithful, and thorough house-keeper ; able to com- 
mand the highest wages if she remains in service, 
fitted to enter upon the true and appropriate sphere 
of woman as the mistress of her own household, 
the centre of her own home. 

The suofCTestions here made with rcirard to the 
employment and discipline of servants proceed 
upon the supposition that every lady who consults 
these pages for practical aid in her duties has at 
least some knowledge of the best manner of doing 
all ordinary household work. 

This knowledge she may have acquired after mar- 
riage only by a series of annoying mistakes and 
mortifying blunders on her part, resulting in dis- 
comfort and disappointment to her husband ; or she 
may have gained it far more pleasantly, as well as 
thoroughly, from the instructions and example of a 
mother who took pride in seeing her daughters ac- 
complished in every department of domestic econ- 
omy. In either case, how natural will be her wish 

to see her own daughters, if she has them, enter 
39 



458. THE PHILOriOPHy OF HOUSE-JiEEPING. 

upon these duties fully prepared, — fitted to super- 
intend in the best manner the labors of servants, or 
to put her own hands to the wheel and navigate the 
family ship in all waters. 

Such are the mutations of fortune, in this coun- 
try, that it is impossible to foresee the station in life 
that any young lady may be called upon to fill. 
Born in a cabin, she may live to preside in a palace; 
and, on the other hand, nursed in affluence, she may 
be so overtaken by social disasters as to be com- 
pelled herself to discharge the duties she formerly 
exacted of servants. Vicissitudes, such as these, 
are illustrated in ten thousand families throughout 
the southern portion of our Union, who have been 
overwhelmed in the wide-spread desolations and 
radical changes of our great civil conflict. 

At a very early age a girl may commence to learn 
how a family is kept in comfort and order, by wait- 
ing on her mother, and helping her in the routine 
of domestic duties. As she grows older, she may 
be held responsible for certain tasks, or for a special 
department in the house-keeping. As she reaches 
the years of Avomanhood, she may assume charge of 
the round of household duties in turn. For in- 
stance, during one week she may have entire control 
of the laundry department ; the next week be at 
the head of the cooking ; and the next be respon- 



TRAINING OF SERVANTS AND CHILDREN. 4t"9 

siblc for the order and cleanliness of the entire 
house. 

If there are more young ladies than one in a fam- 
ily, it is an excellent plan to have them alternate in 
these responsibilities. 

There are three or four simple rules of universal 
application, whether to servants, children of both 
sexes, or the house-keeper herself, which, if strictly 
observed, will greatly facilitate all the labors of the 
household. 

I. A TUIY. FOR EVERYTHING, AND EVERYTHING 
IN ITS TI3IE. 

II. A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING, AND EVERYTHING 
IN ITS PLACE. 

III. Once well done is twice done. 

IV. Whatever is w^orth doing at all is 

WORTH DOING AVELL. 

An adherence to these four maxims will create 
system and order in every family, and fix habits 
which are invaluable to either men or women, in 
every station in life. 

Much has been and will continue to be written 
on the duty of training daughters to be good wives, 
while we hear nothing of the reciprocal and equally 
important duty of training boys to be good hus- 
bands. 

Whatever accomplishments the wife may possess, 



460 THE PHILOSOPHY OP HOUSE-KEEPING. 

the success and happiness of the family, as such, 
depend, to a great degree, upon the domestic ideas 
and fireside habits of its head. If a boy has been 
raised where he saw the water lugged, the wood 
brought in, the cows milked, by the females of a 
house ; if he has not been in the habit of putting 
away his own clothing, or of bearing a ready and 
apt hand to whatever tasks he sees going on within 
doors ; however good his intentions, or however 
strong his affections, no matter how admirable his 
character as a man, he will make, in many respects, 
a poor husband. 

A boy should, from the nursery, be required to 
have a place for his toys, his cap, and his clothing 
generally, and to keep them in it. If he is habit- 
uated to rendering assistance, according to his ability, 
in the setting of tables, bringing in of Avood and 
w^ater, and everything of like nature, he grows up a 
far more agreeable and useful inmate of any family, 
and capable of becoming, in time, an excellent and 
exemplary husband, fitted, by his domestic antece- 
dents, if he cannot raise his wife above the neces- 
sity of daily household work, to materially lighten 
her tasks, prevent her from lapsing into a family 
drudge, and keep her industry always confined to 
woman's legitimate and appropriate sphere. 



HOW TO MAKE HOME HAPPY. 461 



CHAPTER XXV. 

HOW TO MAKE HOME HAPPY. 

The foundation for a liappy home is a perfect mar- 
riage. The true basis of marriage is love ; love which 
" hath its seat in reason, and is judicious," no less 
than warm and" passionate ; love which embraces the 
entire being of its object, — physical, intellectual, 
moral, and spiritual. On this foundation rests the 
perfect home. Built on any other, no matter what 
resources of wealth or culture may be expended, the 
soul will be wanting, and the structure, however 
adorned with whatever of costly and rare, ^vill be as 
"sounding brass and tinkling cymbal." Having love 
as the foundation of tlie home edifice, the " fruits of 
the spirit" follow in their order, — " joy, peace, long- 
suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, 
temperance," — for Bil)le truth applies not alone to so- 
called spiritual things, but to all the underlying prin- 
ciples of social, domestic, and civil life. 

Among the secondary requisites in the building 

of a happy home may be named industry, order, 

cleanliness, economy, and taste. 

Labor and rest are inseparably associated in this 
39* 



462 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

world, and evading the one we lose the otlier. Tlicre 
is no sauce for food like Imngcr; tliere is no provoca- 
tive of hunger and sleep like lahor. Riches have 
little to do with happiness at home, as many find to 
their sorrow, for only that which makes home happy 
in poverty, makes it happy in wealtli. Yet the re- 
sources of happiness at home may be greatly enlarged 
by the culture wealth can bring when it does not 
relax the sinews of industry and purpose. Order and 
cleanliness are inseparably connected with our ideals 
of the perfect home. They are ministers of grace to 
the household, not tyrants imposing severe and im- 
practicable laws. The best good of cacii member and 
of the whole is the law of the family life, and this can 
sometimes be most perfectly secured by infringing 
upon the stated order of the household and by whole- 
some laxity in respect to Pharisaical cleanliness. 
There are housekeepers with whom it is a pain to 
live, they are so rigidly scrupulous witli respect to 
cleanliness, so terribly severe in their regularity a»d 
system. There are housekeepers with Avhom it is a 
pain to live, they are so negligent and untidy, so 
irregular and unsystematic. Happy are they so for- 
tunate as to attain the golden mean ! 

Those families where the children are from early 
years accustomed to bear a part in the household 



HOW TO MAKE HOME HAPPY. 463 

duties and to busy themselves daily with some useful 
occupation are far happier than those in which the 
children are required to do notliing. There are a 
great many ways in which childish fingers and child- 
ish skill may contribute to the adornments of home. 
Little girls and boys at an early age may be taught the 
arts of worsted embroidery, card-board work, tidy- 
making, and the like. Boys of ten and twelve may 
learn to manage a scroll saw and do beautiful work 
with it ; to cultivate small fruits and flowers, and 
thus contribute to the common fund of enjoyment. 

There is a great deal of wliat is called drudgery to 
be done in this world, and it is good for a child to 
learn to bear this yoke in his youth ; but the yoke 
should be proportioned to his strength. While regu- 
lar work may be allotted him in the nature of drudg- 
ery, he should also have what may with propriety be 
termed play- work. The wise parent may contrive 
that this play-work shall be tasks a little above the 
capacity of the child to perform ; as, for instance, 
allowing a little girl, as a reward for doing plain 
sewing neatly, to try a bit of fajicy work ; or for 
washing dishes quickly and well, to make a loaf of 
cake. In this way boys and girls may be instructed 
at their own motion in almost all the arts of house- 
hold industry. It is an excellent plan to make the 



4G1 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEKPING. 

tasks of boys and girls to some extent interchange- 
able ; to teach the boys how to cook, wash dishes, 
wash and iron ; to have the girls split the wood, work 
in the garden, take care of the cow and liorsc. This 
mutual acquaintance with each other's duties makes 
both parties appreciative, forbearing, and jjaticnt with 
each other, both when they are young and when tliey 
are grown to maturity. If the wife knew just liow 
worn and tired the husband is at the close of a day 
of toil, she would more readily forget her own fatigue 
in trying to soothe his. If the husband knew what 
it is to be all day over the ironing table or the cook- 
stove, with babies to care for and constant calls here 
and there interrupting the tasks in hand, he would be 
sympathetic and tender rather than fault-finding and 
morose. Perfect mutual understanding is tlie grand 
preservative of peace in every home. 

Then again, in these days of mutation, enterprise, 
and progress, it is not possible to foresee what variety 
of accomplishment may be demanded by the exigen- 
cies of life. Many a delicately nurtured woman is 
called on to assume all tlic labor and responsil)ilities 
of both father and mother to her family. Many a 
man is thrown into circumstances wliere the knowl- 
edge of what are considered feminine tasks may prove 
his salvation. So far as mav be, we would have the 



HOW TO MAKE HOME HAPPY. 465 

sexes educated together, both in schools and families, 
so that each may be well fitted to supplement and aid 
the other in all the labors of life ; so that each may- 
bear the other's burden, and thus make 11 fb one long, 
happy day of mutual ministration and mutual helpful- 
ness. 

It is not possible for too close an intimacy to exist 
between parents and children. From very early years 
children may be so taken into the counsels of their 
parents and feel themselves so identified with all the 
family interests, that they will be ready to sacrifice 
their personal desires for the family good, and that 
the good of the whole family shall be dearer to each 
than any mere personal gratification. The text of 
family life is given us by St. John : " Little children, 
love one another," but more specifically by St. Paul : 
" That the members should have the same care one 
for anotlier. And whether one member suffer, all the 
members suffer with it, or one member be honored, 
all the members rejoice in it." This is a high ideal 
of family life, but is it an impossible one ? It implies, 
in the first place, that the husband and wife are dearer 
than self to each other, that children are received with 
thanksgiving as the most precious gifts of God, and 
that they are loved, not blindly, but with due regard 
to their best temporal and eternal interests. 



466 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

The questions connected with family government 
require of every parent serious and careful considera- 
tion. The enforcement of the fifth commandment 
and of the precepts of the New Testament with respect 
to the submission of children to their parents are 
essential to the happiness of home ; yet this may be 
accomplished, and should be accomplished, in the 
spirit of love. The parent is to the child in the place 
of God, and the child is taught love to God and obedi- 
ence to God first by being taught love and obedience 
to his parents. By the time a child is five years old 
its moral natui-e should be so developed by instruction 
in the Scriptures and parental training that )io physi- 
cal punishment for disobedience or misdemeanor 
should be necessary. 

Children of all ages love recreation, and ample 
means of enjoyment should be provided to gratify this 
natural love. Play is as necessary as labor, as neces- 
sary as food for the liarmonious development and sus- 
tenance of the physical and intellectual nature. Men 
and women who do nothing but work break down or 
grow wooden and lifeless ; children who have no plays 
grow np dull and stolid. Far from repressing the 
spirit of fun-making and merriment in our families, 
we need to cultivate it as an antidote to the intense 



HOW TO MAKE HOME HAPPY. 467 

practicalism and laboriousness of the generation now 
living. 

The intelligent love and nsc of books is essential 
to the ideally happy liome. As a safeguard against 
the allurements of vice, there is none more effectual 
than a love for the writings of noble and learned men. 
He who has this need never want for the best society. 
No mother who has carefully formed in her son a taste 
for wholesome, nutritious, skillfully-cooked and dainti- 
ly-served food, fears that when away from her he will 
voluntarily eat that which is unhealtliful and unclean. 
No mother who has carefully formed in her son a 
taste for pure, elevating, and noble literature, need 
fear that he will find pleasure in society that is de- 
basing, either of men, women, or books. Knowledge 
is the food and clothing of the mind, and as we lay in 
stores of food and clothing for the body, so should we 
provide for the demands of that part of our nature 
which is not physical ; to which the physical is but a 
minister. 

A happy home comes not by accident or chance. It 
must be built with care and skill at eveiy stage, and 
being built, it needs constant care and renewal to keep 
it in perfect condition. Whatever openings there 
may be in the future, in art, in politics, in the profes- 
sions and trades, for woman, the time will never come 



468 THE PHILOSOPHY OP HOUSE-KEEPING. 

when it will not be her highest and holiest function 
to preside at the home circle, and to be the center from 
which all that is dearest to the heart of humanity 
radiates. "No office can compare in importance with 
that of training the child," and she who " undertakes 
so to mingle the earthly and celestial elements of in- 
struction for that child's soul that lie shall be fitted 
to discharge all duties below and to enjoy all blessings 
above" — herself needs preparation for the work. 
Therefore, in the training of boys and girls, direct 
and constant reference should be continually had to 
preparing them for becoming good husbands, good 
wives, good fathers, good mothers, so that each may 
in turn become the centers of ideal homes, and 
whether they marry or remain single, their presence 
in the domestic circle may bring suushiue and glad- 
ness. 



TABLE SETTING AND SERVING. 469 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

TABLE SETTING AND SERVING. 

The dinner-table is the test of refinement in every 
family. Here skill, taste, and culture combine to 
produce the flower of domestic and social refinement. 
We have volumes of " Table Talk " by the learned, 
the literary, the wise ones, who are never so brilliant, 
so interesting, so overflowing with wit and wisdom, 
as when every sense is stimulated and gratified by the 
delights of the festive board. The culmination of 
physical, domestic, and social enjoyment is found in 
the daily reunions at the table. 

The dining-room should be cheerful, cool in sum- 
mer, with a bright carpet, walls of a warm, cheerful 
tint, hung with pictures, and with flowers in the 
windows. An oval table gives the finest effects when 
tastefully set, and it should be so adjusted that the 
folds of the. table-clotli will be exactly parallel with 
the sides of the room. A table out of line is a great 
offense to all persons wlio have a correct eye for par- 
allel lines. The cloth should be clean, white, and 
nicely ironed. For daily use, and to prevent stray 
crumbs and drops of tea and coffee from soiling the 

cloth, scarlet and white napkins may be laid under 
40 



470 THE PllILOSOPIiY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

each plate. These give a warm and bright appear- 
ance to the table, and by their use much laundry work 
may be saved. Whether the napcry is coarse or fine, 
the tableware of silver and china or of dclf, is of far 
less consequence than that both be scrupulously clean 
and arranged in set order. In most American fami- 
lies, the dinner consists of two courses : the first cora^ 
prising meats and vegetables, the second, puddings or 
^ome other kind of dessert. In setting the table for 
such a dinner, the plates are usually put in one pile 
at the head of the table. At the place of each diner 
is a napkin, a glass, a small plate for butter, two 
knives and forks, and if soup is served, a spoon. The 
napkin, which should be unstarched, may have a roll 
laid upon it, but it is more usual to serve the bread 
upon one plate and pass it round. Queen Victoria 
set the fashion of putting the whole loaf on the table 
with a bread-knife beside it, and having each guest 
served according to his request. Between every third 
plate there should be a small saltcellar, and at oppo- 
site sides of the table, butter, pepper, and sauces. In 
the center of the table should stand a vase of flowers 
or fruit, and if there is room on the table, the dessert 
may be arranged around it. If tliere is not room, the 
dessert will set on the sideboard or a side table until 
it is served. Soup is always given out by the hostess. 



TABLE SETTING AND SERVING. 471 

fish by the host, unless there are two kinds, when he 
serves the boiled fish, and she the fried. At the top 
of the table is placed the roast, at the bottom the 
stew. "Wlicn there is one principal dish, it is served 
by the host. If there are three, one is placed before 
him, the others opposite each other near the bottom 
of the table. Vegetables and other dishes occupy 
positions between tlie principal dishes. 

When dessert is served, every dish lioldingfood is 
removed from the table, except those containing bread 
and butter, and the crumbs are brushed from the 
cloth. Glass dishes for fruit should be used if pos- 
sible. Puddings and pies are generally served by the 
liostess. 

When coffee and tea are served, they are placed in 
a waiter at the end of the table occupied by the 
hostess, the coffee cups and saucers at her right, those 
lor tea at her left. The slop-basin and milk-pitcher 
are at her right, the cream and sugar at her left. In 
front of her are the tea and coffee, in urns or pots, 
where they are not likely to burn the hands of those 
sitting near. 

The very look of a well-set table is appetizing, and 
when, in addition to this, the food is skillfully prepared, 
the air of the dining-room is sweet, the walls are dec- 
orated with pictures, the chairs are comfortable, the 



472 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

hostess is lovely, swect-voicccl, and hospitable, the 
most languid appetite is stimulated, and every sense 
is gratified. 

In some of the best families in the South, breakfasi 
and tea are always served without a cloth, on a liand- 
somely-polishcd mahogany or black-walnut table. 
Under each plate is a napkin, fringed and worked in 
cross-stitch with scarlet cotton wdicrc the fringe ends. 
Mats of white crochet with scarlet edges receive the 
dishes and contrast handsomely with the dark bright- 
ness beneath them. 

A great deal depends on the mistress of the house 
as to wliether refinement and propriety sliall give the 
law to the talkie, or grossness and vulgarity prevail at 
meal-time. If she is exact in the observance of table 
punctilio, if the most scrupulous cleanliness, order, 
and punctuality is insisted on by her in the prepara- 
tion and serving of the meals, a law of politeness and 
style will be imposed on those who partake of the 
viands before them. 

At a dinner-party, it is said that tlie number of per- 
sons should never bo less than tliat of the Graces or 
more than that of the Muses. Brillat Savarin fixes 
the limit at twelve, and these "should be so selected 
that their occupations shall he varied, their tastes 
analogous, and witli such points of copJact that there 
shall be no necessity for the odious formality of pre- 



TABLE SETTING AND SERVING. 473 

sentations." Invitations to dinner-parties are sent a 
week or ten days beforehand, and designate the day 
and hour on which the party is to take place. They 
should be answered immediately, so that the dinner- 
giver may be able to count upon her guests. Full 
evening costume is worn at dinner-parties, and the 
host and hostess are careful not to outshine their 
guests in the matter of dress. Etiquette requires 
strict punctuality to the dinner-hour. The guests are 
received in the drawing-room by the host and hostess, 
and address the latter first ; introductions are made 
if any present are strangers to each other, but if this 
is not done there should be no hesitation on the part 
of any one guest about conversing with all the others 
as occasion offers. 

When dinner is announced, the host gives Ids 
rigid arm to the chief lady guest and leads her to a 
place at the table on his riglit, the hostess takes the 
arm of the chief gentleman guest and gives him the 
place on her right, she being opposite her husband at 
the table. The rest follow according to age, and are 
so seated that each gentleman has a lady on either 
side. 

At wedding and formal breakfasts, the bride and 
bridegroom lead tlic procession to the breakfast- 
table, and are followed by the rest, according to rank 

and age. 

40* 



474 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

CHAPTER XXYII. 

WASHING — IRONING — HOUSE-CLEANING. 

The weekly cleansing of the family linen brings 
the hardest day's work of the week to the house- 
keeper. Monday is the American wash-day, but in 
many respects there is no doui)t that Tuesday would 
be a much better day, especially for those women who 
do their own work. On Monday the supply of food 
cooked on Saturday is well-nigh used up, and the 
house-mother must either stop her work long enough 
to prepare a comfortable breakfast and dinner, or set 
before herself and her family the scraps that may be 
left over from Sunday. The latter, as is well known, is 
the usual alternative adopted, for Monday dinners are 
proverbial. Yet there is no day in the week when 
the housekeeper needs to take more comfort in eating 
than on washing day. 

Some ambitious women pride themselves on getting 
their clothes all out Ijy " sun-up ; " but long observa- 
tion convinces us that this practice is unwise. To 
rise at three or four o'clock in the morning, when the 
electrical conditions of the air are most depressing, 
to work on an empty stomach three or four hours, or 
upon a full meal taken at tliat hour of llic niglit, por- 



WASHING — lilONING — HOUSE-CLEANING. 475 

duces far more fatigue and exhaustion than results 
from conducting the process after aii early breakfast 
has been taken. 

The facilities for washing, in the form of washing- 
machines, wringers, detersive soaps, and bleaching 
fluids, have robbed washing-day of many of its terrors. 
Not only so, they save their own cost many times over 
in preventing the wear of fabric that was inevitable 
under the old system of rubbing clothes on the wash- 
board, and thus make the labor of the seamstress in- 
definitely less ; for clothes washed by the liest ma- 
chines are not W'Orn out while passing through the 
cleansing process. 

The ease with which the labors of washing-day may 
be performed depends largely upon the skill with 
winch the campaign is planned. As white flannels 
require special treatment to keep them white, soft, and 
unshrunken, it is well to wash them first, and have 
them drying upon the line before any other of the 
clothes are wet. They should be put into strong boil- 
ing-hot suds, washed till clean, then passed quickly 
through the wringer, plunged into scalding w^ater till 
thoroughly rinsed and scalded, then passed again 
through the wringer and hung at once upon the line 
to dry. If two tablespoonfuls or more of s]iirits of 
ammonia are added to the suds in which they are 



476 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

washed, llic cleansing will be quicker and more per- 
fect, and it" Ijluing is added to tlie water in wliicli 
lluy are scalded, their wliiteness will be presei'ved. 
Cleansed in this way, all-woul tiauncls will retain their 
whiteness and their texture until they are quite worn 
out. The soap used in washing flannels should not 
have a particle of rosin in it, as rosin hardens tho 
fibres of wool. 

The white clothes, if convenient, should be put to 
soak in wai'ni water over-night, the nicer portion by 
themselves, and those coarser and dirtier by themselves. 
If the water they are put to soak in is hard, borax 
should be added to soften it, and a fow drops of am- 
monia to dissolve the dirt in the clothes and make it 
come out easily. So soon as the flannels are on the 
line the fine white clothes should be washed and put 
over the fire to scald, then the coarser clothes ; after- 
ward, the colored clothes may be washed. It is a 
good plan to put to soak all clothes that will not fade 
or shrink, as this saves much time and labor in 
cleansing them. A great deal of the clearness and 
whiteness of linen and muslin depends upon the rins- 
ing. The last water should l)e entirely clear, and free 
from all soapiness, as this will inevitably turn clothes 
yellow. Wo have found, too, that the dryer clothes 
are wrung when hung upon the line the clearer they 
are. 



WASHIiVG — IRONING — HOUSE-CLEANING. 477 

In warm weather, tlie white clothes, instead of 
being scalded, may be laid in the sun on the grass 
and bleached clean. Many families in the South u^e 
no hot water in washing from May to October, yet 
keep their linen snow-white by bleaching. We have 
tried this method for years together, both South and 
North, with unvarying success. 

It is an excellent plan to have a drying-room for 
use in Winter and in stormy weather. More women 
take cold in Winter while hanging out clothes, than 
at any other one time. They leave the hot, steamy 
wash-tub, and often with sleeves rolled to the elbow, 
and only partially protected from the cold, go out to 
hang up clothes, and by this exposure lay the founda- 
tion of diseases, — coughs, rheumatisms, and the like, 
— that last them all their lives. Then, a drying-room 
makes it possible for washing to be done on a regular 
day without regard to the weather; and during Spring 
and Fall, when the winds are high, it saves great wear 
and tear to the clothes. When the clothes are dry, 
if the person who takes them from the line will put 
the starched clothes together, fold the sheets, towels, 
and such plain articles smoothly, instead of cramming 
them heterogeneously into the clothes-basket, the 
ironing will be made much easier. 

It is cnstomary with most housekeepers to starch 



478 THK IMIILO ^OI'IIV OK llOUoE-KEEPIXG. 

clothes "wlicii they come from the last rinse water. 
The starch is made by dissolving a half cnpful, more 
or less, of starch in cold water, pouring boiling water 
on the mixture until it is of the proper consistency, 
boiling it for a minute, adding a little soap, or white 
wax, or butter, or gum arable, or a lump of white sugar, 
to keep it from sticking. If shirt-bosoms are starched 
on the right side, they will not blister when ironing. 
A few hours before they are ironed, they should be 
dipped in thin cold starch, and rolled tightly. If they 
are to be polished, they should be ironecT in the usual 
way, then laid on a piece of smooth Iward, with a 
single cover of old muslin over it, a moist cloth passed 
over them, and then I'ubbcd wnth the polishing iron. 
This may be bought at almost any hardware store for 
a dollar, or less. 

In ironing, much labor may be saved by the follow- 
ing process. Spread down on the ironing sheet the 
sheets, pillow-cases, towels, and all goods that can be 
folded smoothly, the largest at tlie bottom. Then 
begin and iron the top piece, fold it and lay it by, iron 
the next one, and so on. While ironing each piece, 
the one below is partially smoothed, and all below 
are, in effect, " mangled." At first, the depth of 
cloth is a little embarrassing, but it becomes less and 
less so, and those who are accustomed to this method of 



i 



WASHING — IRONING HOUSE-CLEANING. 479 

smoothing clothes cannot be induced to try any other. 
There is scarcely any work more fatiguing than iron- 
ing, as it requires one to stand in the same position 
for hours together. A high, broad-seated chair may 
be used to great advantage by the ironer, and if a 
child can fetch and carry the flatirons to and from tlie 
stove, much weariness will be saved the housekeeper. 
Twice a year, in Spring and Fall, the task of house- 
cleaning claims attention. By skillful management 
on the part of the mistress of the house, very much 
of the confusion and disorder incident to this semi- 
annual labor may be avoided. There should always 
be one room kept free fi-om invasion, where the family 
may rest in peace. " From the top down, from the 
front back," is the rule among good housekeepers. 
Begin first and put all tlie trunks, bureaus, and chests 
in the house in order. Then commence in tlie attic, 
clean and arrange that ; in each room begin with the 
closets. Then take down the pictures, wipe them 
clean and lay them away, all ready to go up again. 
Move out the furniture, take up the carpet, sweep the 
floor. Then wipe down the Avails with a broom 
wrapped in a soft cloth. Hard-finished Avails may be 
washed ; spots can be removed from them by rubbing 
with pumice stone. Clean the paint, tack the carpet 
down, wipe the furniture, or,' if necessary, wash it in 



480 THE PHILOSOPHY OF IIOUSL-KKKPIXO. 

soapsuds, wipe dry and rul) with a cloth wot with 
kerosene. This evaporates very (piiekly, and tlic odor 
soon passes away. Ammonia-water cleans paint very 
nicely, or a soft cloth dipped in wliiting will answer. 
Cold tea is the best thing for washing grained and 
varnished doors and casings. Bedsteads should be 
taken apart, washed in hot soapsuds, and their crevices 
filled with insect-powder, pulverized alum, salt, or 
washed witli corrosive sublimate, or with salt and 
kerosene. A dirty bedstead is one of the native 
breeding-places of the bed insect, and though by acci- 
dent this pest may get into one's house, it can stay 
there only when the housekeeper is careless as to its 
extermination. It is well to clean one room at a time, 
and put it all to rights, before beginning on another. 
When kalsomining and painting are to be done, the 
room should be first emptied, then cleaned, then kalso- 
mined, then painted. If the walls are inclined to be 
damp, a solution of two-thirds of a pound of Castile 
soap to a gallon of water laid on as a wash, and next 
day followed by another Avash of alum-water — two 
ounces dissolved in a gallon — will cure the inconve- 
nience and prevent any recurrence of it. 

Various I'ecipes for cleansing, kalsomining, etc., 
will be found at the end of this volume. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 461 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

The wife and mother may properly be considered 
as tlie custodian of the happiness and physical well- 
being of her family. Ignorance of or inattention to 
the fundamental laws of life, health, and harmless 
pleasure, results in the positive discomfort and some- 
times the serious illness of those dearest to her, and 
most dependent on her care. 

Inattention, for example, to the prime necessity 
of furnishing to every person in the house an abun- 
dance of fresh air, at all times in the day and niglit, 
— in how many thousand instances has it been the 
means of undermining the constitutions of young 
children, and inflicting upon an entire household 
serious inconvenience and discomfort ! The same 
may be said of indifference to the diet and clothing 
of children. So, also, with respect to beds and 
bedding. As by an imperative law of nature, one- 
third of an existence is passed in a state of uncon- 
sciousness or semi-consciousness, how important is 
it that everything which can conduce to our comfort 
and well-being, and make the hours of sleep answer 

40 



482 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

tbcir original end, should be thoughtfully anticipated 
and carefully secured ! 

In a former chapter, the importance of ventilating 
all })arts of a house, and especially the sleeping- 
rooms, has been fully discussed. 

]\Iuch has been urged by a certain class of hygi- 
enical writers on the sui3erior advantages of a hard 
bed. 

It is said by those authors that half the ills that 
flesh is heir to may be averted by refusing meat, 
eating coarse bread, and sleeping on a straAV pallet. 

While strenuously advocating strict obedience to 
the laws of health, Ave beg leave to withhold our 
admiration from a system that so much resembles 
prison discipline. 

In advocating the use of a comfortable bed, we 
are sure that health not less than mere enjoyment is 
jis etiectually secured as by a diet which is at once 
palatable and wholesome. Here, as elsewhere, the 
true philosophy of life consists in securing, con- 
jointly Avitli the highest degree of health, the largest 
amount of happiness, and the greatest lunnber of 
pleasurable sensations. The happiest regulation 
of the tabic is that where conformity with sound 
rules of health is imited with well-flavored cook- 
er}', and a tasteful arrangement of all the appoint- 
ments and surroundin2:s of a dinini>-room. So, 



MISCELLANEOUS. 483 

also, with respect to beds and sleeping apartments. 
An arrangement which secures compliance with the 
rules of hygiene, and at the same time restores the 
wearied frame, soothes the distracted nerves, repair- 
ing all the wastes of life, and knitting up "the rav- 
elled sleeve of care," is not one of the luxuries 
which wealth only can furnish. Modest means, 
employed with judgment, taste, and skill, may se- 
cure these results as perfectly beneath the lowly 
cottage roof as imder the shining cupola of the 
palace. 

In primitive times, our grandmothers considered 
a bed comfortable when upon a network of cords 
was placed a straw tick, and upon that a thick 
feather bed, spread with coverings appropriate to 
the season. Upon a cold winter's night this ar- 
rangement was certainly not uncomfortable ; but for 
any temperature above the freezing-point such a 
couch is decidedly objectionable. Tlie difficulty 
with a corded bedstead is, that it wnll always settle 
more or less in the middle, and form a valley, or 
hollow, into which the sleeper rolls. Feathers are 
the softest, though not the most elastic, of any of 
the materials in common use for beds. The objec- 
tion to their use is, that the person sinks into a 
downy and yielding mass which promotes and at 
the same time absorbs perspiration till it becomes 



484 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING, 

lojided with cfletc animal matter not easily removed. 
An indolent and languid habit of body is thus in- 
duced Avhich counteracts to a great degree the re- 
freshment sought in sleep. To such an extent have 
feathers been, of late }'ears, discarded, that they 
cannot be said to be in general use, except for pil- 
lows and bolsters, for Avhich purpose no pleasant 
substitute can be found. Yet such have been the 
resources of modern invention that oin* couches are 
fully as comfortable as they were a century ago, and 
far more healthful. Tlie network of cords has been 
to a great extent abandoned, and springs substituted 
in its place. 

Straw is still used ; but feathers have given place 
to mattresses filled "with wool, hair, cotton, husks, 
l^ahii-leaf, oak splits, and Spanish moss. 

The order in which these materials are named is 
that of expensiveness and comfort, a good wool 
mattress being at once the most costly and the most 
desirable for all seasons. Hair ranks next to wool, 
and is the substance of which most first-class beds 
are composed. Husks, palm-leaf, and oak splits 
make beds which are about alike in softness, and 
all equally wholesome and durable. Probably there 
is no material which makes so economical and at 
the same time so comfortable a bed as husks, or 
shucks, as they are called in some parts of the coun- 



MISCELLANEOUS. 485 

liy. Tlie}^ have also the advantage of being very 
easily obtained ; so that almost 3very house-keeper 
in the country can prepare and make her own beds, 
at a very small expense. The labor of children may 
be successfully employed in sorting and splitting 
the shucks, and removing all ends and fragments 
of the stalk that are found adhering. A mattress- 
needle may be purchased for twenty-five cents. 
The cost of ten 3^ards of ticking is from three to 
five dollars, according to the quality ; so that, by 
labor that would otherwise be unproductive, or 
nearly so, and an expenditure of about four dol- 
lars, almost any house-keeper can readily produce 
a mattress comfortable, durable, new, fresh, and 
wholesome. 

It must be admitted, however, that only w^ool and 
hair mattresses make an entirely comfortable bed 
without either springs beneath them or a softer sub- 
stance above. 

The ordinary spiral coils, which make the best 
springs, may be obtained at any upholstery estab- 
lishment, at about seventy-five cents per dozen, and 
five dozen are sufficient for the longest bed. A per- 
son moderately skilled in the use of tools can bore 
the holes, and fasten them to the slats of an ordi- 
nary bedstead. With proper usage, they will last 
a lifetime. 



486 THE PHILOSOPHY OP HOUSE-KEEPING. 

Thus it may be seen that, by the exercise of a 
little skill and thrift, a family may, at a very trifling 
expense, be provided with beds in the last degree 
pleasant, refreshing, and healthful. In cold weather, 
a thin feather bed or a light cotton or wool mattress 
spread upon the shuck mattress, upon springs, will 
conduce to the warmth and ai^-reeableness of the 
couch. 

With regard to the bolster of a bed, it is as fre- 
quent, perhaps, to err on the side of fulness as in 
the opposite direction. The design of a bolster is 
to raise the head so as to be on a line with the 
spine, as it is when a person is standing. If the 
support of the head is so thick as to turn the head 
up, when lying on one's side, the efiect is as pain- 
ful as sleeping without a pillow or bolster. Men 
with broad and high shoulders require fuller bolster- 
ing under their heads than a lady or child. One 
large pillow will generally be found sufficient to se- 
cure the most comfortable attitude. A bolster of 
moderate thickness, and a jjillow of the usual size, 
will secure the same result. If feathers cannot be 
obtained for the stuffing of bolsters and pillows, hair 
is found to be a very good substitute for one, and 
cotton or wool for the other. The soldier, fatigued 
by a long march, may find a knapsack, a pair of 
boots, or even a brickbat soft cnouirh to secure for 



MISCELLANEOUS. • 487 

him sound sleep ; but in the ordhuuy walks of life 
the experience of the majority of mankind is, that, 
tiie conscience being clear, and other circumstances 
propitious, the softer the pillow the sweeter the 
sleep. 

As to the covering of beds, vastl}- more depends 
on the quality than the quantity of the clothing 
used. The object to be attained is a sufficient de- 
gree of warmth with the least possible weight of bed- 
clothes. In cold weather it is difficult and often 
impossible to enjoy the most comfortable and the 
most refreshing sleep under a pile of common thin 
quilts ; and if a great number are iiscd, their Aveight 
will be oppressive. 

A double rose-blanket, thick and warm, is the 
most perfect covering for a bed in cold weather. 
Xo other substance will compare with tine wool in 
the property of retaining warmth, and yet feeling 
light and agreeable. 

If a double blanket is too expensive, a single one 
will be found less charming, indeed, but far better 
than to allow a quilt or comfort to come next the 
upper sheet. But if a lady is ambitious to fit up a 
nice bed, where the conditions of the most comfort- 
able and refreshing sleep may be secured for regu- 
lar members of her family, or for her guests, let 



488 TiiR piiiLOsoPHr of house-keeping. 

fier not rest content "with any arrangement short of 
a set of spiral springs under a good mattress, and a 
double rose blanket for covering. 

As, however, the great majority of people sleep 
under what are known as " comforts," or two sheets 
of calico with a layer of cotton matting between, it 
may be well to remark, that one of these articles 
that is thick is better fan two thin comforts or 
quilts. 

The preference that so many house-keepers show 
for linen sheets, rather than cotton, is not supported 
by sound rules of health. In the chapter on mate- 
rials of clothing, the advantages of cotton over linen 
are fully discussed. Sheets of fine bleached cotton, 
costing not more than half as much as linen, are 
more comfortable in cool weather, nearly as much 
so in warm, are washed and ironed with greater fa- 
cility, and are wholly unobjectionable on grounds of 
health. Linen retains its whiteness longer than cot- 
ton, is somewhat more durable, and in the hottest 
weather is cool and soothing to the touch. But 
for pillow-slips, linen is decidedly, and at all times 
preferable, being whiter, pleasanter to the touch, 
smoother, and more lasting. The more perfectly 
free of absorbed animal matters all the articles of 
bed-clothing are kept, the more comfortable and 
luxurious, as well as wholesome, will be the couch. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 489 

This is especially true of blankets, which cannot be 
too frequently or thoroughly exposed to fresh air. 
Even those made of the finest wool, if constantly 
used without careful airing, will cease to afford that 
delicious warmth, and to be the luxurious covering 
that they are when new. When washed, they 
should be dried as rapidly as possible, and the nap 
raised by going over them with a fine and short- 
toothed wool-card. By this means, the newness of 
feeling may be retained in blankets and other 
woollens as long as they are worn, and their warmth 
greatly increased. 

When sheets are perfectly dried and laid away 
from the ironing table, if sprigs of lavender, or 
some other pleasant perfume, as little perfume bags 
of powdered orris-root, are laid between their folds, 
the luxury of the bed will be very much increased. 
If they are commonly kept in a deep drawer, a few 
drops of the oil of lavender poured on the wood 
will penetrate the linen and perfume it sufiiciently. 

By such inexpensive and tasteful arts, the happi- 
ness and refinement of a home, and the enjoyment 
of all its inmates, are greatly enhanced. 

Another important respect in which the lady of 
the house finds the cheerfulness and comfort of her 
home, especially under her control, is in the selec- 
tion and management of stoves and fuel. 



490 THE PHILOSOPHY of h ju.se-kf.epixg. 

Ill nil parts of the c(Mintiy, where fuel is abun- 
dant, and of moderate price, there is no reason why 
the luxury of an open lire in the sitting-room of a 
family should not be indulged in. On many a flour- 
ishing farm, where from twenty to fifty cords of 
wood are sold yearlj', the wife and daughters will 
be found for six months in close companionship 
with a small, square cast-iron box, stamped with 
strange patterns, and filling the room Avith a volume 
of close, scorched air, the sole recommendation of 
which is that it keeps the atmosphere at a high tem- 
perature. The allowance of an extra cord of oak 
or hickory would have afforded this family a cheer- 
ful, open fire, in a grate or a Franklin stove, casting 
a ruddy glow to every corner of the room, main- 
taining a constant supply of fresh air, and changing 
entirely the tone and the comfort of the apartment. 

It is impossible for any close stove, no matter 
how ornate its pattern or how perfectly it may utilize 
the gases of wood or coal, a;id apply them to heat- 
ing the apartment, to rival an open fire in cheer- 
fulness, comfort and health. The economy of 
consuming a cord of wood less in a season by the 
use of cheap and fuel-saving stoves is not true 
thrift. It is penny wise and pound foolish. 

The cookinij-stove has been brousht, iu America, 
to a wonderful degree of jjerfection. But for warm- 



MISCELLANEOUS. 491 

mg apartments, where cooking is not carried on, it 
is doubtful whether, in the hundred and twenty 
years since Franklin gave his drawings to his 
friend, the iron foundo^-, we have made any true 
advance. 

In families where a strict and searching parsimony 
is necessary in every department of expense, it may 
be fortunate that ten dollars Avill set np, in the spare 
room, an arrangement for heating the air; but if 
a generous spirit can be indulged anywhere, let it 
be in making the fireside a place of brightness and 
cheer, Avhere a ruddy flame is reflected from pol- 
ished brass, where, of a Avinter's night, the oak 
back-log hisses, and the hickory fore-stick glows till 
an infectious warmth pervades the family circle, and 
January seems no less joyful than June. 

The question of the kind of fuel to be purchased 
is one that varies with every locality, and Avith 
changes in the means of transportation. At mod- 
erate distances from the mines, nothing will compare 
with hard coal for 3'ielding the largest amount of 
heat from a given weight of fuel. There is no great 
difference between a cord of seasoned hard wood, 
and a ton of anthracite, for family use. 

The heat of anthracite is more concentrated, and 
often greater than the comfort of an apartment, or 
the necessities of cooking, require. If used with 



492 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

care and skill, a ton of hard coal can he made to go 
much farther tlian any cord of wood. An almost 
imivcrsal error, in the use of this kind of coal, con- 
sists in the practice of filliijg a stove full, and al- 
lowing it to consume slowly for several hours. In 
this way, a large amount of heat-producing gas is 
driven ofl*, and passes up the flue without being ig- 
nited. Where the draft is checked, and coal-gas 
thrown into the room, the result is, in the highest 
de<rree, deleterious. The most wholesome mode of 
using coal to heat an apartment is by the common 
irrate. But this consumes about twice as much as a 
good stove, and will not make a large room com- 
fortable in all parts. Where the draft is strong, 
and the weather cold, a grate exhausts the air in a 
room, and an incontrollable heaviness and drowsi- 
ness is felt. . 

In localities where soft or sea coal can be readily 
obtained, no arrangement is so agreeable as a Frank- 
lin stove, or large grate, arranged for either wood 
or co;d. In the extreme north, where the ground 
is frozen for four or five months, no warming appli- 
ance is so eflective as a hot-air furnace in the cellar. 
In a house adapted for the purpose, it is an excellent 
plan to have a small furnace that heats the hall and 
moderates the coldness of all the chambers ; the 
living-rooms l)eing also warmed by open fires. To 



MISCELLANEOUS. 493 

keep all the rooms of a large house warm by a hot- 
air furnace, requires a very liberal consumption 
of fuel. 

In the purchase of, ^s well as in using, wood, a 
knowledge of the characteristics of the different 
species of timber is of much use to every lover of a 
good jSre. 

The best wood ever laid on a grate is hickory. 
Even when but a few weeks cut, it will light with 
but little reluctance, and give a steady, equable 
heat, uniform, and entirely reliable for cooking pur- 
poses. 

Black birch is very much like it, and, on account 
of its agreeable fragrance, is the pleasantest of all 
fuels. Both these varieties are worth a dollar or 
two more by the cord than common wood, and the 
satisfaction they give is more than an equivalent for 
this difference in price. White oak, ash, and ma- 
ple are next to hickory and black birch in value for 
fuel. There is little or no preference between these 
varieties when seasoned ; but the peculiarity of ash 
is that it burns almost as well when green as Avhen 
flry. It will often occur in moving, and in the set- 
ilement of new countries, that dry wood cannot be 
obtained at first. When subjected to this annoy- 
ance, it is well to remember that ash and hickory, 



494 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

though green, if split fine and bailed in the stove- 
oven, will make a hot and lasting fire. 

When green, pine and chestnut are almost "worth- 
less for fuel ; when dry, the^^ burn for a little while 
with a lively flame, but never radiate heat like the 
harder varieties. Dry chestnut mixed with oak 
makes a very good winter fuel, but consumes more 
rapidly than hard Avood alone. Persons who pur- 
chase wood for fuel, or who use dififerent varieties, 
will find it greatly to their advantage to make them- 
selves acquainted with the various kinds of wood, 
and their qualities. By such knowledge a cord of 
mixed wood can be burnt in such a manner as 
always to afibrd the degree and kind of heat needed, 
— the hickory and birch, or choice cuts of white 
oak and ash being reserved for baking, and other 
operations demanding a strong and lasting fire ; the 
inferior grades of oak, chestnut, bass, and hemlock 
being consumed when only a moderate heat is re- 
quired. On the other hand, how many a breakfast 
has been vexatiously delayed, how many a promis- 
ing batch of Ijread half spoiled b}^ a stick of green, 
or soft, or half-decayed wood put into the stove at 
just the wrong time ! 

The proper domain of the house-keeper is not 
bounded by the living-rooms of the famil}' abode. 
The husband and father is, by the demands of our 



MISCELLANEOUS. 495 

urgent business habits, forced to become engrossed 
in matters important, absorbing, and often remote 
from his fireside. His home is often for weeks 
together no more than, a boarding-house, where he 
sleeps and obtains some of his meals ; his whole 
time and all his zeal and energy being consumed by 
the farm, the store, the office, the factory, or the 
speculations out of which he is laboring to build his 
fortune. The affiiirs of the yard, the garden, and 
the stables will in such cases be nej^lected and sro 
to waste, if remitted entirely to the care of servants 
and children. General instructions can of course 
be expected from the head of the household, but 
the daily care and the executive details fall upon 
the housewife. She will not find the task at all 
difficult if she simply carries the system and the 
order which she has prescribed for the kitchen, the 
pantry, the laundry, and the chamber into the yard 
and out-houses of her establishment. 

Nothing contributes more to the air of comfort, 
snugness, and thrift around a place than the practice 
of making small repairs with promptness. "Where 
a jiicket is found missing or loose, let it be repaired 
at once, before pigs and chickens have learned to 
take unwarrantable liberties. If a hinge is out of 
order, the driving of a nail or the sinking of a sin- 
gle screw will prevent the calling in a carpenter. 



496 THE PHILOSOPHY OP HOUSE-KEEPING. 

In families where sons are growing up, it is of 
great advantage to them, as well as good policy for 
considerations of thrift, to provide an assortment 
of common tools, and let everybody on the place 
be trained to use them in making all small repairs 
and trifling improvements and conveniences. 

There should be two hanmiers, a large and a 
small ; two saws, one fine and the other coarse ; a 
cheap iron bitstock and set of bits, with screw- 
driver and reamer; a draw-knife, a square, a tape 
measure, two or three augers, a pair of pincers and 
plycrs, a monkey-wrench, a large screw-driver, a 
hatchet, a jack-plane, and a pot of glue. The en- 
tire cost of this assortment need not be more than 
five dollars. With them all jobs on a jDlace that 
do not require the skill of a joiner can be executed. 
The convenience of having such tools is hardly 
errcater than the satisfliction of find ins; them always 
in place. Some suitable place should be selected, 
as a back entry, a store or lumber room, a dry base- 
ment, or a shop, if not too remote from the rooms 
constantly in use, and nails driven at a proper 
height so that children can be sent for anything re- 
quired. The most effective plan to secure order is 
to draw with a pencil or a small brush dipped in 
plack paint, an outline of each tool around the spot 
where it hangs. By this system the place of each 



MISCELLANEOUS. 497 

is permanently fixed, so that the hammer is never 
huns: on the saw nail nor the draw-knife where the 
pincers should be found. If any instrument has been 
loaned, misplaced, or lost, a glance at the wall tells 
the story. Children can in this way be trained to 
form that invaluable habit, Avhich is of equal impor- 
tance in the workshop, the office, the counting- 
room, or the library, to have a place for everything ^ 
and everything in its place. 

On a farm this system should be extended so as 
to take in farm tools, especially such as are of a 
size to be hung on nails or pegs, and care should be 
exercised in keeping them free of rust and dirt. 
When a tool, as a hoe or garden rake, is new, it is 
an excellent plan to smear it over two or three times 
"with linseed oil in which a little beeswax has been 
melted. The wood is thus kept from decay and the 
steel from rustinsj. 

No thorough housewife will conceive that her 
province terminates at the threshold. She may 
have a husband or grown son who shows taste and 
order in the care of the yard. If otherwise (and 
men are commonly engrossed Avith outside matters) , 
the wife and mother almost always has under her 
control young and unskilled persons, whose labor 
she has only to direct in piling wood, raking leaves, 
repairing fences, trimming bushes, and whitewash- 



498 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

ing out-houscs, in order to change entirely the look 
of the premises, and produce a most refreshing 
look of regularity, neatness, and thrift. 



MISCELLANEOUS llECIPES. 

A cheajp jjaint or ivJiiteioash suitahle for fences, 
gate-posts, and roughly covered houses and icalls. — 
Slack half a bushel of lime with cold water, and 
after much stirrinsr strain throuirh a wire sieve. 
Add ten pounds of Spanish whiting, eight of salt, 
and six of sugar. If a straw color is desired, use 
yellow ochre instead of Spanish whiting. 

Whitewash for inside icalls. — To a peck of 
slacked lime add a pound and a half of white vit- 
riol, a pound of salt, and half a jjound of dissolved 
glue. The eflect of the salt and glue is to prevent 
rubbing off. 

To clean paint that is not varnished, put on a 
plate a quarter or half a pound of the best whiting. 
Take a vessel of clean warm water, dip in it a piece 
of flannel, and wring nearly dry, and take up as 
much of the whiting as Avill adhere to the damp 
cloth. A little rubbing will remove the dirt and 
grease. AYash off with clean water, and rub dry 
with soft flannel. Paint cleaned in this way looks 
almost as fresh as new, and the process docs not 



MISCELLANEOUS. 499 

consume half as much time as the ordina"^y way of 
scrubbuig with soap-suds. 

j4.n excellent furniture polish. — Into one pint of 
linseed oil put half a pint of treacle and a glass of 
gin. Apply lightly with a linen rag, and rub dry 
with linen cloths till a fine gloss appears. 

To remove grease spots from floors. — Cover at 
once with hot ashes, moisten with hot water, and 
repeat the application three or four times. 

To remove ink stains froyn linen or cotton. — 
Soak in sweet milk and salt for a day, then wash in 
warm water. 

To remove grease from books. — Cover with 
pounded chalk or magnesia, and set on it a warm 
flat-iron. 

To remove grease from silk oricoollen. — Moisten 
some fine starch and spread it in a thick paste over 
the spot. When dry, rub ofl", and repeat the appli- 
cation till the grease disappears. 

To remove tallow or sperm from clothing and car- 
pets. — Cover with blotting-paper, or with any soft 
paper, folded several times, and place a hot iron 
upon it. The heat melts the grease, and the paper 
absorbs it. Spots of this sort on pantaloons and 
coats can be entirely removed with a newspaper and 
a hot poker. 



600 THE PHILOSOPHl OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

To remove paint and jprMy from tcindow- glass. — 
Make a strong solution of pcarlash with hot water. 
Apply with a brush to the paint or putty. "When 
nearly dry rub hard with a woollen cloth. 

To extract inh from floors. — Scrub with sand 
wet in oil of vitriol and water mixed. Then rinse 
with strong saleratus water. 

To extract paint from cotton, silk, and woollen. — 
Saturate the spot with spirits of turpentine, let it 
remain several hours, then rub it between the hands. 

To take rust from steel. — Cover the steel with 
sweet oil, and rub it well in. Let it lie forty-eight 
hours, then polish with unslacked lime till the rust 
disappears. 

To clean plate. — 'W'^asli it first in warm soap 
and water. Then rub the tarnish off with whiting 
wet in water, using a soft brush for the intricate 
parts. Then with a piece of leather rub with rouge 
powder mixed with water to about the thickness of 
cream. This will produce a beautiful polish. 

Another way. — Rub with a soft flannel Avet in 
soapy soft water, and wipe dry Avith a piece of soft 
leather. 

Polisliinrj paste for Britannia metal, tins, brasses^ 
and coppers is made in the following manner : Pow- 
der a quantity of rotten-stone, and mix Avith it soft 
soap till it is about as stiff as putty ; to a half pound 



MISCELLANEOUS, 501 

of this add two ounces of oil of turpentine. Make 
up in bulls and dry. They will keep auy length of 
time. To use : moisten the paste with water, smear 
it over the metal, and rub briskly with a dry rag or 
wash-leather, and you will have a beautiful polish. 

To dean door-plates. — Cut the size of the plate 
out of a large piece of pasteboard, place it against 
the door and rub the plate with rotten-stone, or cro- 
cus and sweet oil, on leather. This will keep the 
paint about the door-plate uninjured. 

To refasten the handles of knives and forks. — 
Make a cement of common brick- dust and rosin. 

To dean decanters. — Pour the refuse of the tea- 
pot, leaves and all, into the decanter and shake it 
well. The taunin of the tea has a chemical affinity 
for the crust on the glass. 

To destroy the smell of fresh paint. — Mix chlo- 
ride of lime with water, with which damp some hay 
and strew it upon the floor. 

To prevent the ill effects of charcoal. — Set over 
the burning charcoal a vessel of boiling water, the 
steam of which will prevent danger from the fumes. 

To purify river, or muddy water. — Dissolve 
half an ounce of alum in a pint of warm water, and 
stir it into a hogshead of muddy water. The im- 
purities will settle to the bottom and in a day or 
two it will be clear. 



502 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KKKPINO. 

To 2')7'event moulding in boohs, ink, paste, and 
leoJher. — One drop of lavender will keep a pint of 
ink from moulding, and, applied to books or leather, 
will prevent this pest entirel3^ 

To iwevent icJdtewash from rubbing off. — Stir 
into a pailful of whitewash a quart of thick flour- 
starch, while hot. 

To jpreveyit Jiinges creaking. — Rub them with 
soft soap or a feather dipped in oil. 

Liquid blacking. — Half an ounce of brown sugar, 
half a tablespoonful of sweet oil, and two ounces of 
ivory-black. Mix well, and add slowly half a pint 
of small beer and a teaspoonful of gum-arabic. 
Shake it well, and when it is all dissolved it is 
ready for nse. 

Ink poivder. — Five ounces powdered nutgalls, 
an ounce and a half of green copperas, one ounce 
of powdered gum-arabic. INIix with white wine, 
and it is ready for use. 

To sejparate beeswax from the comb. — Tie it np 
in a linen or woollen bag with a pebble in it, to keep 
it at the bottom of a kettle of cold water. Place over 
the fire. The wax will rise to the top as it melts, 
and the impurities remain in the bag. 

To sew on glazed cloth. — Pass a cake of soap 
over the stiffened material, and the needle will pene- 
trate the cloth without difficulty. This is important 



MISCELLANEOUS. 503 

f(jr all persons to know who operate sewing-ma- 
chines. 

Cheap carpetinrj. — Sew together strips of the 
cheapest cotton cloth to the size of the room, and 
tack the sides to the floor; then paper the cloth, 
as you would the sides of a room, Avitli any sort of 
wall-paper. "When it is thoroughly dry, cover with 
two coats of varnish. This carpet can be washed 
without injury, and, where it does not meet with 
rough usage, it will retain its gloss and last for two 
years as good as new. 

Cheap beds. — The leaves of the beech-tree, col- 
lected in the fall, in dry weather, make very pleas- 
ant beds. The smell is agreeable and wholesome ; 
they are free from vermin, quite elastic, and soft. 

For the sting of a nettle. — Rub the part with any 
aromatic herb, such as mint, bahii, or rosemary. 

To cure sheep poisoned by eating laurel. — Pour 
a gill of melted lard down their throats, and it is 
said to be a certain cure. 

To remove proud Jlesh. — Apply pulverized loaf- 
sugar to the part affected. 

Another remedy. — Sprinkle burnt alum, pulver- 
ized, on a poultice, and apply it. 

For convulsions in children. — Put the feet in 
warm water, and apply a cold cloth to the back of 
the neck. Keep the head cool, the feet warm. 



504 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

Chilblains. — Bathe the part affected in strong 
alum-water. Continue a week or two, and it will 
cure. 

To stop bleeding at the nose. — Chew a piece of 
paper ; or take two or three pinches of dried salt 
beef, grated fine, and use as snuff; or raise the left 
arm, and keep it up some time ; or bathe the back 
of the head and neck in cold water. 

Hickets. — Keep the bowels regular, and bathe 
the body in tepid salt and water. Friction, air, 
exercise, and nutritious diet are of the first ira- 
jDortance. 

Mortification. — Apply poultices made of warm 
yeast and powdered slippery-elm ; renew tliem when 
cold, and give internally a glass of yeast three or 
four times a day, and tonic bitters. 

To cure black tongue. — Rub a handful of fine 
salt upon the tongue, and it will cure after two or 
three applications. 

For nursing sore mouth, or sore mouth in infants. 
— Put in a teacup one teaspoouful pulverized alum, 
the same of borax, half a saltspoouful of powdered 
nutgalls, a tablespoonful of honey. Pour over it 
l)oirmg water till the cup is two-thirds full. Wheii 
it settles, wash the mouth with a clean linen rag, 
and repeat the application three or four times a day, 
using a fresh rag every time. This is a safe and 



anSCELLANEOUS. 505 

effectual remedy for this most annoying com- 
plaint. 

To cure erysipelas. — Dissolve a bit of copperas 
in a cup of water, and apply frequently, nsing a 
clean rag every time. 

An excellent salve for cuts and sores. — One ounce 
and a half of olive oil, two ounces of white diachylon, 
two ounces of beeswax, melted together. 

To cure itch. — Dissolve in water half an ounce 
of carbonate of potassa, and rub the parts affected ; 
then rub on a little ointment made of three or four 
grains of white precipitate mixed with sweet oil. 
This is a harmless and certain remedy, and far more 
agreeable than sulphur. It should be kept on hand, 
and applied at once. 

To remove lice. — Lard melted and applied hot 
to the hair will kill lice, and prevent nits from 
hatching. 

A hop-pillow will frequently produce sleep, when 
everything else fails. 

For sprains and bruises in horses. — . Dissolve an 
ounce of camphor in eight ounces of spirits of wine, 
and then add one ounce of turpentine, one ounce 
spirit of sal-ammonia, half an ounce of oil of origa- 
num, one large tablespoonful of laudanum. Rub in, 
for fifteen minutes, four or five times a day. 

To remove warts. — Wet them with tobacco juice 

41 



506 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSE-KEEPING. 

and rub with chalk ; or, rub them with fresh beef 
every day till they disappear. 

Wounds on cattle. — Bathe them with yolks of 
eggs mixed with spirits of turpentine. A speedy 
cure. 

To prevent dogs Jrom going mad. — {^European 
recijpe). — ^Slix a small portion of flour of sulphur in 
their food or drink. 

Hens' eggs. — Round eggs produce females; 
pointed, males. 

To take out fruit spots. — Moisten the stain, and 
hold the stained part over a lighted brimstone match. 
The sulphurous acid gas will bleach it out. 

To take grease out of silk. — Apply magnesia to 
the wrong side. 

To remove grease spots from cai-pets. — Pulverize 
fine new pipes or pipe-stems ; put the powder on the 
spot ; lay a brown paper under it and over the pow~ 
der; place on this a warm iron, and if it stays long 
enough the grease will disappear. 

To remove ink spots from linen. — Dip the spotted 
part in pure melted tallow ; then wash. 

To take out tnildeio. — Rub on soap ; then scrape 
fine chalk on it ; rub it in well ; lay it on the grass ; 
as it dries, wet it a little ; repeat the process, and 
the mildew w^ill disappear. 

To prevent polished hardicare and cutlery from 



MISCELLANEOUS. 507 

rust. — "Wipe carefully after using, and wrap in 
coarse brown paper. 

To 2Jr event bruises from turning blue or black. — 
Apply at once a cloth wrung out in very hot water, 
and repeat several times ; or, make a plaster of salt 
and tallow to cover the wound ; or, wash in tincture 
of arnica, which is the best remedy of the three. 

POISONS AND THEIR ANTIDOTES. 

A.cids. — Remedies, — Magnesia, soda, pearlash, 
or soap, dissolved in water ; then use stomach-pump 
or emetics. 

Snake bites. — Apply immediately strong harts- 
horn, and take it internally. Or, drink a pint and 
a half of raw whiskey, French brandy, or other 
spirit. 

Prussic acid. — Chloride of soda or chloride of 
lime. Hot brandy and water. Hartshorn and tur- 
pentine. 

Lead. WJiite lead and sugar of lead. — Alum, 
castor-oil, Epsom salts, or some other cathartic. 

Opium. — Strong mustard and water till vomit- 
ing is produced, then strong coffee and acid drinks. 
Dash cold Avater on the head. 

Laudanum. — Same as opium. 

Mushrooms. — Give an emetic first, then plenty 
of vine«rar and water. 



508 THE rniLOSoPHY of house-keepln^g. 

KUrale of silver or lunar caustic. — Give stronsf 
salt water, then emetics. 

Creosote. — White of eggs, then emetics. 

Charcoal. — Put the patient in the open air, dash 
cold water on the head and body ; put hartshorn to 
the nose and mouth, and rub the chest briskly. 

Oxalic acid. — Chalk, magnesia, or soajJ and 
water, then emetics. 

Arsenic. — First give an emetic, then whites of 
eggs, lime-water, chalk and water, charcoal, and 
the preparations of iron. 

Anwionia. — Lemon-juice or vinegar; then milk 
and water or flaxseed tea. 

Alkalies. — Vinegar. 

Alcohol. — Give an emetic, dash cold water on 
the head, and give ammonia. 

belladonna or henbane. — Emetics, then acid 
drinks. 

Corrosive suhlimate. — Whites of eggs freshly 
mixed with water, or wheat flour and water, or soap 
and water. 

Saltpetre. — Give emetics, then plenty of flax- 
seed tea, milk and water, or other soothing drinks. 

Tartar emetic. — Give tea in large doses, made 
of galls, Peruvian bark, or white-oak bark. 

Tobacco. — Give an emetic, then astringent tea, 
then stimulants. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 509 

Verdigi'is. — Plenty of white of egg and water. 
Mercury or poison vine. — Wash the skhi affected 
with poison, in vinegar and salt, or salt and water, 
or solution of sugar of lead, or buttermilk. Fre- 
quent washing in strong suds made of rosin soap 
will ofteu cure it. 

White vitriol. — ]\Iilk and water. 
To 2)roduce vomiting in case of poisoi.ing, mix a 
tablespoonful of common ground mustard in warm 
water, and administer every five or ten minutes till 
the desired efiect is produced. Then give warm 
and soothing drinks, such as flaxseed tea, slippery- 
elm tea, milk and w^atcr, or chalk water. 

To stop the itching of insect bites. Rub the part 
stung with strong hartshorn, mingled with a little 
sweet oil. 



APPENDIX. 



COOKING RECIPES. 

Sponge Cake. Three eggs, half a cup of milk, one cup of sugar, 
one cup and a half of flour, one teaspoonful cream tartar, one-half a 
teaspoonful soda, flavor to taste. 

Sponge Cake. One pound of sug:u-, one-half pound of flour, eight 
eggs, the grated rind and one-half the juice of a lemon and a pinch 
of soda. 

Honeymoon Cake. Two and a half cujjs of flour, one and a half 
of sugar, half a cup of milk, three-quarters of a cup of butter, two 
eggs, one teaspoonful of cream tartar, half a teaspoonful of soda ; 
spice to taste. Sift the cream tartar and soda with your flour ; then 
work in the butter with your hand into the flour ; then the sugar ; 
then add the milk and eggs, and beat with a spoon; then the flavor- 
ino- ; and beat a while, and Dake immediately in an oven not too hot. 

Pound Cake. Beat to a cream three quarters of a pound of butter, 
and work into it thoi-oughly one pound of crushed and sifted sugar 
and eight eggs well beaten ; mix in lightly one pound of flour ; beat 
half an hour, and bake in a quick oven. The cake may be made 
richer by adding candied lemon peel, cut thin, or blanched almonds, 
or half a pound of currants. This will make a large sized cake. 

Raised Cake. Five cups of flour, one of butter, one-half of yeast, 
two eggs, one-half pint of milk, two cups of sugar ; raisins and nut- 
m'^g. Rub the butter into the flour, add milk and yeast, and set it 
to rise. When risen, work in the sugar and eggs ; add nutmeg and 
a little cinnamon. When raised, put in the raisins with a fork, after 
drying and flouring them. 

Composition Cake. One and three-quarters pounds of flour, one 
and one-quarter of sugar, three-quarters of a pound of butter, four 
eggs, one pint of good milk, or half a pint of cream, one pound of 
fruit, half a nutmeg, one-half teaspoonful o/" cinnamon. Dissolve 
one teaspoonful of soda in a small part of the milk ; rub the butter 



APPENDIX. 511 

and sugar together ; then break in the eggs, and work them in well ; 
then add the tiomva little at a time, till it is well stirred in ; then the 
spices ; then the fruit ; and, last of all, the soda. Stir it fifteen min- 
utes J pour in pans, and bake immediatelj'. 

Sugar Cakes. One pint of dry flour, one-half a pint of butter, one 
half a pint of sugar ; mix the flour and sugar ; rub in the butter ; 
add an egg well beaten, and enough milk to moisten tlie whole. lioU 
out thin, cut in forms, and bake quickl}-. 

Fruit Cakes. (1). One pound of butter, one and one half pounds 
of sugar, one and tliree-quarters of flour, three pounds of raisins 
stoned tmd chopped ; two pounds washed and dried currants, one- 
quarter of a pound of citron, one pint of milk, four eggs, two nut- 
megs, two teaspoonfuls of saleratus. Cream the butter, and mix in 
the sugar smoothly ; then, by degrees, add the eggs, beaten separ- 
atelj ; then the milk ; then add the flour by degrees ; tlien the raisins, 
currants, citron, and spice; last of all, the saleratus, dissolved in a 
little of the milk. Butter two tin pans ; put in the cake, and bake 
it in a moderate oven three or four hours. 

Plum Cake, or Wedding Cake (1). One pound of dry flour, one 
pound of sweet butter, one pound of sugar, twelve eggs, two pounds 
of raisins, stoned ; two pounds of currants well washed, dried, and 
floured ; as much spice as you please ; a glass of wine, one of brandy, 
and a pound of citron ; mix the butter and sugar as for pound cake ; 
sift the spice, and beat the eggs very light ; put in the fruit last, stir- 
ring it in gradually. It should be well floured. If necessary, add 
more flour after the fruit is in. Butter sheets of paper, and line the 
inside of one large pan or two smaller ones; lay in some slices of 
citron ; then a layer of the mixture, then of the citron ; then a layer 
of the mixture, then of citron ; and so on, till the pan is full. This 
cake requires a tolerably hot and steady oven, and will need baking 
four or five Iiours, according to its thickness. It \\ill be better to let 
it cool gradually in the oven. Ice it when thoroughly cold. 

Bride Cake. Wash two pounds and a half of fresli butter in plain 
water first, and then in roseicater ; beat the butter to a cream ; beat 
twenty egijs, yolks and whites separately, half an hour each. Have 
ready two pounds and a half of the finest flour, well dried and kept 
hot ; likewise one pound and a half of sugar, pounded and sifted ; 
one ounce of spice, in fine powder ; three pounds of currants, nicely 
cleaned and dry; half a pound of almonds, blanched, and three- 
fourths of a pound of sweetmeats, cut not too thin. Let all be kept 



512 APPENDIX. 

by the fire ; mix all the ingredients ; pour the eggs strained, to the 
butter, but beat the whites of the eggs to ii strung rrotli ; mix halt" a 
pint of sweet Avine with the same quantity of brandy ; pour it to the 
butter and eggs ; mix well ; then have all the dry things j)ut in by 
degrees ; beat them very thoroughly, — you ean hardly do it loo much. 
Have half a pound of stoned jar raisins cliupjjed as fine as j.ossible ; 
mix them earefully, so that there should be no lump, and add a tea- 
cupful of orunge-tiower water ; beat the ingredients together a full 
hour at least. Have a hoop well buttered ; take a white paper, 
doubled and buttered, and put in the pan, round the edge ; do not 
fill it more than three parts with battel', as space should be allowed 
for rising. Bake in a quick oven. It will i-equire full three hours. 
In making cakes of a larger size, put at the rate of eight eggs to every 
pound of flour, and other ingredients in the same proportion. The 
cake must be covered with an icing. 

Railroad Cake. One cup of sugar, one of flour, two tablespoonfuls 
of melted butter, two tablespoonfuls of milk, three eggs, one tea- 
spoonful of cream tartar, one-half a teaspoonful of soda ; flavor 
with lemon. 

Repiihlican Cake. One pound of sugar, one pound of flour, one-half 
pound of butter, four eggs, one pound of fruit, one cup of milk, one 
teaspoonful of cream tartar, one-half teaspoonful of soda ; spice to 
your taste. 

Scotch Cake. Stir to a cream two cups of sugar and a cup and a half 
of butter ; add the juice and grated rind of a lemon ; beat nine eggs 
to a froth, and stir in ; add flour enough to make it a stiff batter ; 
then add a quarter of a pound of citron, cut in pieces, and the same 
of almonds, blanched and pounded fine in roscwater. "Bake in pans, 
or drop on tins two inches apart, with white sugar grated over theiu. 
Lady Cake. One cup of butter, three cups of sugar, five cups of 
sifted flour, the whites of ten eggs, one-half teaspoonful of soda in a 
cup of milk, cream tartar mixed with flour, flavor with bitter almond. 
Cup Cake. Four eggs, four cups of flour, one cup of milk, two 
cups of sugar, one cup of butter, one teaspoonful of soda, a little nut- 
meg. Beat sugar and eggs together well, before you put in the flour. 
Tip-Top Cake. One cup of milk, one-half cup of sugar, two cups 
of flour, a heaped tablespoonful of butter, one c^g, one teaspoonful 
of cream tartar, half a teaspoonful of soda, one cup of raisins. 

Washingfon Cake. Beat six eggs very light ; add one pound (^f 
butter, a pound of sugar, a pint of rich milk or cream a little sour, a 



APPENDIX, 513 

glass of wine, a powdered nutmeg, a spoonful of cinnamon, and lastly, 
a small teaspoonful of saleratus. Bake in tins or small pan.-:, in a 
brisk oven. 

Chocolate Cake. One half cuj) butter, two cups of sugar, four eggs, 
one cup of milk, three and one-half cups of flour, two teaspoonfuls 
cream tartar, one teaspoonful of soda and one teaspoonful of vanilla. 

Paste. One-half cake of Baker's chocolate, two cups of white 
sugar, two teaspoonfuls cinnamon, three-quarters of a teaspoonful of 
cloves, a pincli of ginger, three teaspoonfuls of vanilla. Keep tht 
chocolate in the oven ten mniutes, then add sugar and boil it, then 
flavor. 

Marble Cake. White. One cup of white sugar, one-half a cup of 
butter, one-half a cup of sweet milk,two cups of flour, one teaspoon- 
ful of cream tartar, one-half a teaspoonful of soda, whites of four 
eggs. Black. One cup of brown sugar, one-half a cup of molasses, 
one-half a cup of butter, one-half a cup of sour cream, yolks of four 
eggs, two and one-half cups of flour, one-half teaspoonful of saleratus, 
one tablespoonful of cinnamon, one-half a tablespoonful of nutmeg, 
one teaspoonful of allspice, two teaspoonfuls of cloves. 

Lemon Cake. One teacupful of butter, and three of sugar ; rub 
them to a cream, and stir into them the yolks of five eggs, well beaten ; 
one cup of milk, the juice and grated peel of one lemon, the whites 
of flve eggs, and sift in as lightly as possible four cups of flour. 
Baked in shallow pans about half an hour. 

Coffee Cake. One cup of sugar, one of molasses, two-thirds of a 
cup of butter, one cup of raisins, one egg, one teaspoonful of soda, in 
one cup of coffee, to be added the last thing ; flour enough to keep 
the fruit from sinking ; one teaspoonful of every kind of spice ; add 
citron and currants. 

Custards for the above. Take a pint of rich cream, and add to it 
three eggs, well beaten, and a little flour ; sweeten and flavor to taste, 
and put it on to boil. When the cakes are baked open the crusts at 
the sides, and fill with the custard. 

Cocoanut Cake. One pound of cocoanut, grated fine and dried, one 
pound of white sugar, and the whites of two eggs, well beaten ; mix this 
together with a spoon ; make up the cake in pear form ; lay a sheet 
of white paper on a tin ; sot the cakes about two inches apart, and 
bake them about fifteen minutes. Watch them very closely, as they 
are apt to scorch. 



514 app.:ndix. 

Horteii Cake. One pound and a half of sifted flonr, three-quarters 
of a pound of honey, half a pound of finely pounded sugar, a quf.r- 
ter of a pound of citron, and half an ounee of orange-peel, cut small, 
of pounded ginger and cinnanion three-fiuarters of an ounce. IMelt 
the sugar with the honey, and mix in the other ingredients. EoU out 
the paste, and cut it into small cakes of any form. 

Rice Cake. Take eight yolks and four whites of eggs, and beat 
to a foam ; add six ounces of powdered sugar, and the peal of one 
lemon grated. Then stir in half a pound of ground rice, and beat 
all together for half an hour. Put it into a buttered dish, and bake 
twenty minutes. This cake is recommended as very easy of digestion. 
Cun-ant Cake. Take half a pound of cleaned and dried currants, 
the same quantity of dried and sifted flour, a quarter of a pound of 
pounded sugar, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, four yolks, 
and three whites of eggs, both well beaten, and a little grated nut- 
meg or pounded cinnamon. Then beat the butter to a cream ; add 
the sugar, and then the eggs, and the flour. Beat these well for 
twenty minutes ; mix in the currants and the grated nutmeg. Drop 
the cakes in a round form upon buttered paper, or bake them in 
small tins in a quick oven. 

Salli/ Lunn Cakes. Take one pint of milk quite warm, a quarter 
of a pint of thick, small beer yeast ; put them into a pan with flour 
sufficient to make it as thick as batter. Cover it over and let it stand 
till it has risen as high as it will ; that is, about two hours ; add two 
oimces of lump sugar, dissolved in a gill of warm milk ; a quarter 
of a pound of butter, rubbed into your flour very fine ; then make 
your dough, and let it stand half an hour ; then make up your cakes, 
and put them on tins ; when they have stood to rise, bake them in a 
quick oven. Care should be taken never to put your yeast to water 
or milk too hot or too cold, as cither extreme will destroy the fermen- 
tation. In summer, it should be lukewarm ; iu winter a little 
warmer ; and in very cold weather, warmer still. When it has first 
risen, if you are not prepared, it will not hurt to stand an hour. 

To make waffles. Six eggs, a pint of milk, a quarter of a pound 
of butter, same of white sug.ir, a pound and a half of sifted flour, a 
teaspoonful of cinnamon ; warm the milk, and cut up the butter in 
it ; beat the eggs well, and pour them in ; sprinkle in half the flour , 
stir in the sugar and spice gradually; add by degrees the remainder 
of the flour; heat the waffle-iron, grease it well, and pour in the liat- 
{ r. AYli.-n tlu waffles are bak'jd, sjrjad each one separately on a 



APPENDIX. 515 

clean napkin, till a plateful is ready. They are very nice with grape 
jelly spread on them. 

W/iite Cake. Take of dried and sifted flour, of fresh Imtter-, and 
of finely pounded loaf-sugar one pound each ; five well beaten eggs, a 
quarter of a pint of ci-cam ; of candied orange and lemon peel, cut 
small, three-quarters of an ounce each ; one ounce of caraway seeds, 
half a grated nutmeg, a glass of brandy, and a little rose-water ; then 
beat the butter to a cream, and add all the other ingredients to it ; 
and, at last, mix in one tablespoonful of fresh yeast ; let the cake rise 
before the fire for half an hour. Bake it in a buttered tin. In- 
stantly upon taking it out of the oven, with a feather brush the top 
all over with the beaten white of an egg, and sift loaf-sugar upon it. 
Let it stand at the mouth of the oven to harden. 

Caraway Cakes. Rub half a pound of butter into one pound of 
flour, and mix with it half a pound of sifted loaf-sugar, and half a 
teacupfal of caraway seeds ; make them into a stiflT paste, with a little 
cold water ; roll it out two or three times ; cut it into round cakes ; 
prick them, and bake them upon floured tins, in a slow oven. Cur- 
rants may be used instead of caraway seeds, if preferred. 

Jackson Jumbles. Three cups of sugar, one cup of butter, five 
cups of flour, two eggs, one teaspoonftil of saleratus in a cujj of cream, 
bake in a quick oven. 

Cocoanut Jumbles. Cut the meat of a large cocoanut in slices, and 
grate them ; beat up the whites of five eggs and the yolks of three, 
and mix with them a few drops of the essence of lemon ; mix the 
grated cocoanut with a small portion of flour ; roll it light on a 
flom-ed paste-board; cut it into rings with a tumbler, the edge of which 
is floured. Butter the pans into which the cakes are to be laid, and, 
after sifting a little loaf-sugar over the cakes, bake them in a quick 
oven. When they begin to brown they are done. 

Doughnuts. One cup of butter, two cups of flour, one pint of milk, 
one pint of yeast, three eggs, spice ; take out w^ith a spoon instead of 
kneading when light and make round. 

Crullers. One cup and a half of sugar, one of sweet milk, two 
eggs, one tablespoonful of butter, one of cream tartar, one-half a tea- 
spoonful of sod- . ; flour till it is almost as stiff" as pie-crust ; roll 
much and thin ; cut into figures, and fry. 

Currant Cake. Take h:\lf a pound of cleaned and dried currants, 
the tame quantity of dried and sifted flour, a quarter of a pound of 
pounded sugar, a quarter of a pound of fresh buttir, four yolks, and 



616 APPENDIX. 

three whites of eggs, both well beaten, and a little grated nutmeg or 
pounded cinnamon. Then beat the butter to a cream ; add the sugar, 
and then the eggs, and the flour. Beat these well for twenty minutes ; 
mix in the currants and the grated nutmeg. Drop the cakes in a 
round form upon buttered paper, or bake them in small tins in a 
quick oven. 

Queen Cake. Beat one pound of butter to a cream, with some rose- 
water, one pound of flour, dried, one pound of sifted sugar, twelve 
eggs ; beat all together. Add a few currants, washed and dried. 
Butter small pans of a size for the ptirpose, grate sugar over them ; 
they are soon baked. They may be done in a Dutch oven. 

Seed Cake. Six cups of flour, three cups of brown sugar, one 
teaspoonful of dry cream tartar, sifted together ; warm one cup of 
milk and one of butter together. Add one cup of sour milk, one 
teaspoonful of saleratus beat into the milk until it froths, three eggs 
well beaten, and half a cup of seeds. Mix this all together with the 
hands, and roll it thin ; cut it in rounds. Bake it fifteen minutes. 

Ginger Snaps. One pint of molasses, one teacup of butter, one 
spoonful of ginger, one teaspoonful of saleratus ; boil all together, 
and, when nearly cold, add as much flour as can be rolled into the 
mixture. 

Macaroons (1). Blanch one-half a pound of almonds in hot water, 
and pound them fine with rose-water ; beat the whites of three egg? 
to a froth ; then stir in gradually one-half pound of fine white sugar ; 
when well mixed, add the almonds ; drop the mixture with a tea- 
spoon on buttered plates ; sift sugar over, and bake in a slow oven. 

Ufacaroons (2). Throw in boiling water, for five minutes, ten 
ounces of sweet almonds, and two ounces of bitter ones ; put in a 
mortar, and grind them to a paste, adding a few drops of the white 
of eggs during the process ; grind well, also, a pound of white sugar, 
with a quarter of a rind of lemon, well gi-ated ; then mix well to- 
gether almonds, sugar, and the whites of two eggs ; make balls of any 
size with it ; put the ball on a piece of paper ; beat the yolk of an 
egg with half a gill of water, and glaze the top of the balls with it 
by the means of a pencil or a goose-feather. Put them in a slow oven. 
It will take about fifteen minutes to cook them. 

Cream Puffs. One pint of water, one-third of a pound of butter, 
three-quarters of a pound of flour, ten eggs ; boil the water and but- 
ter together, and stir in the flour while boiling ; when cool, add the 



APPENDIX. 517 

eggs, well beaten, and a teaspoonfnl of soda ; drop on tin pheets, 
about the size of a dollar ; bake in a moderate oven fifteen minute^. 

Cream for the above. One cup of flour, two cups of •sugar, four 
eggs, one quart of milk ; beat the flour, sugar, and eggs together ; 
then stir with the milk, while boiling, until it is of the consistency of 
thick cream ; flavor with vanilla ; make a small ring in each guif, and 
put in a spoonful ot the cream. 

Hard Molasses Cake. Tiu'ee cups molasses, two cups of drippings 
or butter, one cup of water, one tublespoonful of ginger, one table- 
spoonful of saleratus. 

Molasses Cup Cake. Of butter, one-half cup ; sugar, one cup ; 
sweet milk, one cup ; three eggs, four cups of flour, one large table- 
spoonful of ginger, half a teaspoonful of salt, one teaspoonful of soda 
dissolved in molasses ; mix butter and sugar together well, first ; 
then add the other ingredients ; eggs, well beaten, being the last. 

Hard Times Molasses Cake. One large cup of molasses, one cup 
of sugar, one cup of buttermilk, half a cup of butter, one teaspoon- 
ful of soda, one tablespoonful of ginger, four cups of flour. Good 
sweet dripping, or part lard and part butter, may be used. When 
lard is used instead of butter, it should have a little salt worked into it. 

Kisses. Beat the whites of four eggs to a stift" froth ; add the juice 
of a lemon or a little rose-water ; roll and sift half a pound of the 
whitest loaf-sugar, and beat it with the egg ; spread out white paper, 
and drop a tablespoonful of this mixture on the paper. The oven 
should be only moderately hot ; and when the tops have become hard 
remove them. Have a solution of gum-arabic, and dip the lower side 
of one cake, and join it to another. 

French Loaf. Three cups of light bread, two cups of white sugar, 
one cup of butter, three eggs, one nutmeg, one small teaspoonful of 
soda ; rub the butter and sugar together ; then work in the eggs, and, 
lastly, the bread and fruit. Bake, in a loaf, one hour and a half. 

Gold Cake. One cup butter, four cups flour, measure before sift- 
ing, two cups sugar, one cup milk, yolks of sixteen eggs, two teaspoon- 
fuls of soda, four teaspoonfuls of cream tartar ; flavor with vanilla. 

Silver Cake. One cup butter, four cups sugar, five cups of flour, 
one cup milk, whites of sixteen eggs, two teaspoonfuls soda, four tea- 
spoonfuls cream tartar ; flavor with lemon. 

Cake without Eggs. Two-thirds of a cup of butter, two cups of 
sugar, two cups of milk, six cups of flour, four teaspoonfuls of cream 
tartar, two teaspoonfuls of soda. 



518 APPENDIX. 

Molassfs Cake. One pint molasses, two tliirds of a cup of butter 
or drippings, one cup of water, two teaspoonfuls of saleratus, one 
tablespoonful of ginger. 

Madeira Cake. Whisk four fresh eggs until they are as light as 
possible ; then, continuing still to whisk them, throw in, by slow de- 
grees, the following ingredients, in the order in which they are wTit- 
ten. Six ounces of dr}-, pounded, and sifted sugar ; six of flour, also 
dried and sifted ; four ounces of butter, just dissolved, but not heated ; 
the grated rind of a fresh lemon ; and, the instant before the cake is 
moulded, beat well in the third of a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda; 
bake it one hour in a moderate oven. In this, as in all compositions 
of the same nature, be particular that each portion of the butter be 
beaten into the mixture until no appearance of it remains, before the 
next is added ; and if this be done, and the paste be kept light bj 
constant whisking, the cake will be as good as if the butter were 
creamed. Candied citron can be added if desirable. 

SWEET DISHES. 

Wvie Jelly. Dissolve one box of Cox's gelatine in a pint of cold 
water ; after soaking for half an hour, add one quart of boiling water 
and one and one half pounds of sugar. For flavoring, add one-half 
a pint of wine and the juice and peal of two lemons, not grated or 
lemons to suit your taste, and no wine ; stir till all is dissolved, strain 
through a cloth, and set it away to harden. 

Table Jelly. Three good-sized lemons, cut in slices ; add one-half 
a pcJund of white sugar, two quarts of cold water, twu ounces of 
isinglass, a stick of cinnamon, and a little nutmeg. To make it 
transparent, add the whites of tlirec or four eggs ; stir them well with 
the other ingredients ; boil five minutes, and strain through the jelly- 
bag 

Tapioca Jelly. One cup full of tapioca. Wash it two or three 
times and soak it in water five or six hours. Then simmer it in the 
same water in which it has been soaked, adding salt and bits of fresh 
lemon peal ; until it has become transparent. Then add lemon juice, 
wine and loaf sugar to flavor it. Simmer all together and pour into 
glasses to cool. 

Rice Jelly. Make a tliin paste of two ounces of rice flour, and three 
ounces of loaf sugar, and boil them in a quart of water till transpar- 
ent. Flavor with rose, orange, or cinnamon water. It can be made 
by boiling whole rice long and slowly. A little salt improves it. 



APPENDIX. 519 

Cha7-/otte Rkssl' {I). One-half a pound of white sugar, four eggs, 
tJie whites and yulks beaten separately, and with the sugar ; one quart 
of cream, whipped as for syllabub. Dissolve one-half ounce of isin- 
glass in a cup of milk, and, while warm, mix cream and sugar and 
two vanilla beans, boiled in a cup of water ; prepare the form ; then 
pour it to cool. 

Charlotte Riisse (2). Mix with the yolks of four eggs a quarter of 
a pound of sugar, pounded fine, and add to this half a pint of new 
milk. Put it over the fire till it begins to tliicken like custard, but 
do not let it boil ; then add half a pint of very stiff calves-foot jelly. 
Strain it through a napkin ; put in a pan, placed on iee, a pint of very 
.•ich cream, flavored or not, as you like, and whip it until it looks 
}ike float ; pour the cream into another dish, and put the custard in 
the pan on the ice ; with a paddle stir it on the ice until it becomes 
thick, like jelly ; then add the cream very lightly. The mixture 
should look like light sponge cake before it is baked. A round tin 
pan must be prepared with sponge cake, called ladies' fingers, placed 
around and at the bottom very evenly and closely ; pour the Char-« 
lotte in it, and place it on the ice till wanted. When wanted, put a 
round dish or plate on it, and turn it out. The bottom will then be 
at the top, and no cake at the bottom. 

Apples in Charlotte Russe. Quarter, peel, and core about a quart 
of apples ; put butter in a stew pan, and set it on the fire ; when 
melted, put your apples in, with sugar and a little grated nutmeg ; 
then take them from the fire, put it in an oven, and, when cooked, 
drain them ; put them back on the fire for ten minutes, stirring all 
the while, and take off ; butter slightly a round mould ; line the bot- 
tom and sides with croutons ;* fill the mould with the apples ; cover 
with slices of the soft part of bread ; put in an oven for about twenty- 
five minutes ; the oven must not be too hot ; then take ofi, turn over 
on a dish, remove the mould, and serve hot. 

Merringues. Beat the whites of six eggs to a stiff froth ; sift into 
this t^vo large spoonfuls of white sugar ; while beating, flavor it with 
lemon ; butter a tin mould ; put the Ggg into it ; set it into the oven 
to bake about ten minutes ; butter a tin sheet, tiirn the mould on to 
It, and slip it off carefully, so as Hot to break the egg ; sift a little 
sugar over it, and set it in the oven to bro^vn ; have ready a slice of 
bread or cake, spread over with marmalade or preserve ; slip the 
form O'l to it. This is quite a pretty dessert dish. 

♦Croutons are pieces of bread cut in various shapes and fried in butter. 



520 APPENDIX. 

Italian Cnmii. Mix one pint of rich cream wiih half a pint of 
milk; sweeten it to your taste; add two gills of Madeira wine, one 
<;ill of rosewater; heat these ingredients thoroughly ; dissolve in hoil- 
iiig water one onnce and a half of isinglass ; strain it through a nap- 
kin or sieve, and stir it into the cream ; fill the moulds, and Mhen 
firm turn out. 

Snow Cream. Beat the whites of four eggs to a froth, and stir in 
two spoonfuls of white sugar ; flavor with rosewater or lemon ; add 
a pint of thick sweet cream, and beat the whole together to a froth. 
This is to be served with a dessert of sweetmeats. 

Lemon Cream. Take a pint of cream ; add the peal of a lemon 
rubbed in sugar ; M'hip it well ; add sugar and lemon-juice to taste ; 
have half an ounce of isinglass dissolved and cool ; when the cream 
is thick, which it will he when the lemon-juice is added, pour in the 
isinglass, and immediately mould it. A smaller quantity of isinglass 
may suflice, but that depends on the thickness of the cream. Other 
flavors may be used, as orange, almond, maraschino. 

Or, Take a pint of thick cream, and put to it the yolks of two 
eggs, well beaten ; four ounces of fine sugar, and the thin rind of a 
lemon; boil it up; then stir it till almost cold; put thejuiceof a 
lemon in a dish or bowl, and pour the cream upon it, stirring it till 
quite cold. 

Raspberrij and Currant Cream. Use a bottle of raspberry and the 
juice of a handful of currants, passed through a sieve with the rasp- 
berries ; then proceed the same as before, precisely. 

Velvet Cream. Half an ounce of isinglass dissolved in a cup and a 
h:df of white wine ; the juice and rind of one lemon, and three-quar- 
ters of a pound of loaf sugar ; simmer all together until it is quite 
mixed ; then strain it, and set it to get cool ; add a pint and a half 
of rich cream ; stir it until it is quite cold ; put it into moulds, and 
set it on the ice until it becomes as stiff as blanc-mange. 

Almond Cream. Boil one quart of cream, with a grated nutmeg, 
a blade or tAvo of mace, a bit of lemon-peel, and sugar to your taste; 
then blanch one-quarter of a pound of almonds, and beat them very 
fine, with a tablespoonful of rote-water or orange-flower water ; beat 
well the whites of nine eggs, and strain them to the almonds ; beat 
them together, and rub them well through a coarse hair-sieve ; mix 
it with the cream ; set it on the fire, and stir it all one way until it 
almost boils ; pour it into a bowl, and stir it till cold. Put it into 
vups or glasses, and send it to tabic. 



APPENDIX. 621 

Cremc d la Vanille. Boil one ounce of isinglass in a pint of milk 
for ten minutes, taking care that it does not stick to the bottom of the 
stewpan ; put into it lialf a stick of vanilla ; cover it down, and let 
it stand till nearly cold ; beat up the yolks of five eggs ; mix them 
well, and stir the custard over the fire until it thickens, but do not let 
it boil ; strain it into a bowl ; when nearly cold, add a gla.^s of noyeau 
or maraschino ; keep stirring it, and, when on the point of setting, 
add three-quarters of a pint of cream, well whipped ; mix it well, 
and pour it into a mould ; set it upon ice till wanted, when dip it for 
a moment into warm water, wipe it dry, and turn over upon a dish. 
This is. a very fine cream for a Charlotte Russe ; but there should be 
a little more isinglass added, and a glass of brandy instead of the 
noyeau. 

Chocolate Cream (2). Take a pint of milk, a gill of cream, the 
yolks of three eggs, and five ounces of powdered sugar ; mix these 
ingredients together ; set them on the fire to boil ; stir it constantly, 
and let it boil till reduced to a quarter ; then add two ounces of grat- 
ed chocolate, and, havino- boiled a little longer, strain it and let it cool. 
Sen'c it cold. 

Apple Cream. Boil twelve large apples in water till soft ; take off 
the peel, and press the pulp through a hair sieve, upon half a pound 
of pounded loaf-sugar ; whip the whites of two eggs ; add them to 
the apples, and beat all together till it becomes very stiff, and looks 
quite white. Serve it heaped up on a dish. 

Coffee Cream. Melt four ounces of white sugar in t^^■o tablespoon- 
fuls of strong warm coffee ; let it cool; place it on ice, and finish it 
like chocolate cream. 

Moss Blanc-Mange. Take as much moss as will fill a large coffee- 
cup ; put it into a dish, and pour boiling water over it ; let it stand 
about ten minutes ; wash it out, and thi'ow it into cold water, to 
rinse it ; put it into three quarts of milk, and let it boil ten minutes ; 
add sugar, and flavor to taste ; strain it through a very fine sieve or 
jelly-bag into the moulds. 

Floating Island. Take the white of an egg, or more, as you want ; 
beat to a froth ; add a glass of currant jelly ; beat them together until 
a spoon will^and up in it ; drop a spoonful at a time in a glass bowl 
of sweet cream. 

Gooseberry or Apple Custard. Boil your fruit ; pulp it through a 
sieve, and season with sugar, and flavor the apple with a grated lemon 



522 APPENDIX. 

or nutmeg. L:iy in a tliick layer of the fruit in a dish; mix a pim 
of milk, a pint of sweet cream, the yolks of two eggs, and scaltl it 
over the fire, stirring it ; add* sugar to <hc fa^to, and let it get cold ; 
lay it over the fruit with a spoon, and over th^' who'c a whip. Some 
prefer the whip made the day hefore. 

Almond Custard. Blanch and pound fine, with half a gill of rose- 
water, six ounces of .sweet and half an ounce of bitter almonds ; boil 
a pint of milk, as in baked custard ; sweeten it with two ounces and 
a half of sugar ; rub the almonds through a fine sieve, with a pint of 
cream; strain the milk to the yolks of eight eggs and the whites of 
three, well beaten ; stir it over the fire till it is of a good thickness ; 
take it off the fire, and stir it till nearly cold, to prevent its curdling. 
N. B. — The atove may be baked in cups, or in a dish, with a rim of 
puff paste put ai-ound. 

Baked Custard. Boil a pint of cream with mace and cinnam.on ; 
when cold, take four eggs, leaving out two of the whites, a little rose- 
water, a little white wine, nutmeg and sugar to your taste; mix them 
well together, and bake them in china cups. 

Boiled Custard. Boil in a pint of milk, five minutes, lemon-peel, 
coriander seed, and cinnamon, a small (juantity of each, half a dozen 
bitter almonds, blanched and pounded, and four ounces of loaf-sugar , 
mix with a pint of cream, the yolks of ten eggs, and the whites of 
six, well beaten ; pass it through a hair .sieve ; stir it with a whisk 
over a slow fire, till it begins to thicken ; remove it from the fire, and 
continue to stir it till nearly cold ; add two tablespoonfuls of brandy ; 
fill cups or glasses, and grate nutmeg over. 

Rice Custard. Mix a pint of milk, half a pint of cream, one ounce 
of sifted ground rice, five or six bitter almonds, blanched and pound- 
ed, with two tablespoonfuls of rose-wi,ter ; sweeten v/ith loaf-sugar, 
and stir it all together till it nearly boils ; add the well-beaten yolks 
of three eggs ; stir, and let it simmer for about a minute ; pour it 
into a dish, or serve it in cups, with sifted loaf-sugar over the top. 

Arrow-root Custard. In winter, when eggs are very dear, take two 
spoonfuls of arrow-root mixed in a teacup of cold milk ; boil a quart 
of milk, beat up three eggs, and mix in the arrow-mot. Pour in the 
boiling milk, stirring the eggs and arrow-root coutinuaily ; put it in 
a pitcher, and boil as above directed. 

Chocolate Cream. Beat up separately the whites and yolks of six 
eggs ; add to the yolks a cup of fine white sugai-, stir th.e whites into 
the yolks , dissolve a quarter of a pound of chocolate ia haU' a pint 



APPENDIX 528 

of !i()t water, add a pint and a half of cream, give it one boil, and 
t::rn it on the eggs, stirring it all the time. Then put it into boiling 
water, stirring the custard constantly until'it thickens. To be served 
in glasses, and eaten cold. 

Coffee Custard. Take a large cup of fresh ground coffee, break an 
egg into it ; mix it up well ; put it into a coffee-pot with a pint of 
boiling water. Boil it five minutes, add a cup of cold water, and let 
it stand ten minutes. Turn it off very clear into a saucepan, add a 
pint of cream, and give it one boil. Have read^^ eight eggs, well 
beaten, one and a half large cups of sugar; turn the coffee and cream 
boiling hot on the eggs, stirring all the while. Put the custai'd into 
a pitcher, set it into boiling water, and stir it all the time until it 
thickens. Serve in cups, to cat cold. 

Strawberry Ice Cream. Pass a pint of picked strawberries through 
j\ sieve with a wooden spoon, add four ounces of powdered sugar and 
a pint of cream, and freeze. 

Pineapple Ice Cream. Pare a ripe, juicy pineapple, chop it up fine, 
and pound it, to extract the juice. Cover it with sugar and let it lie 
awhile in a china bowl. Wheu the sugar has entirely melted, strain 
the juice into a quart of good cream, and a little less than a pound 
of loaf-sugar. Beat up the cream and fi-eeze it in the same way as 
common ice cream. 

Currant Ice Cream. Put one large spoonful and a half of currant 
jelly into a basin with half a gill of syrup, squeeze in one lemon and 
a half, add a pint of cream, and a little cochineal, then pass it through 
a sieve and finish in the general way. 

Water Ices Are made with the juice of the orange, lemon, rasp- 
berry, or any sort of fruit, sweetened and mixed with water. To make 
orange-water ice, mix with one pint of water the strained juice of 
three fine oranges, and that of one lemon. Rub some fine sugar on 
the peel of the orange, to give it the flavor. Make it very sweet and 
freeze it. Lemon ice is made in the same manner. 

PDDDINGS. 

Snoiv Puddtiig. One-half a box of Cox's gelatine. Pour over It 
one pint of boiling water. Add two cups of sugar and the juice of 
two lemons. When nearly cool add the whites of three eggs, beaten 
forty-five minutes. Pour into a mould to harden. For sauce, the 
yolks of three eggs, one pint of milk, sweetea to taste, set in a ves^il 



524 APPENDIX. 

of hot water tu lioil, stirring constantly till done. When nearly cool 
add a little salt and flavor with vanilla. 

Queen's Pudding. Mix one pint of bread-c'riimbs with one quart 
of milk, butter of the size of an egg, the grated rind of a lemon, the 
yolks of four eggs and the white of one; add nearly a cup of sii^ar. 
Bake half an hour. "While cooking, beat the Avhites of three eggs 
with eight tablespoonfuls of sugar and the juice of the lemon. 
When done, drop over the pudding lumps of jelly. Cool perfectly ; 
apply the frosting and bi-own in the oven. To be served cold. 

Abcranddl Pudding. Dissolve one-half a box of Cox's gelatine in 
a teacup of cold water ; add three pints of milk, a little salt, sweeten 
to taste, set in a kettle of water and stir till it boils. Beat the yolks 
of six eggs and stir in. Strain it through a cloth, then set it back in 
the kettle till the whole boils ; take it off and stir in rapidly the whites 
of the eggs beaten to a froth. Flavor with lemon or vanilla and set 
it away to cool. Serve cold. 

Com Starch Pudding. One quart of boiling milk, four tablespoon- 
fuls of corn starch wet in cold water ; beat into this the yolks of four 
eggs and a little salt. Add one cup of sugar, put it into a mould, 
and set away to cool. Wet the mould with cold water. When per- 
fectly cold, add the frosting, which is made thus : four tablespoonfuls 
of sugar beaten into the whites of the four eggs ; set into the oven to 
brown. Serve cold. Farina may be used instead of corn starch. 

Cottage Pudding. Sift with one cup and a half of flour one tea- 
spoonful of cream tartar and half a teaspoonful of soda. Mix with 
this one cup sweet milk, one-half cup of sugar and two eggs, well 
beaten. Bake till done in a quick oven. 

Boiled Indian Pudding. One pint sweet milk, one pint Indian meal, 
one- third of a pint of rye flour, one-third of a cup of molasses, one 
teaspoonful of soda. A little chopped suet improves it. 

Sweet Potato Pudding. Grate half a pound of par-boiled sweet po- 
tatos, and stir to a cream six ounces of sugar and six of butter, to 
which add the beaten yolks of eight eggs. Mix these well together, 
and add the grated peel and juice of a lemon and a grated nutmeg. 
Last of all add the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiif froth. 

Boiled Flour Pudding. One quart of milk, nine eggs, nine table- 
spoonfuls flour, a little salt. Put in a strong bag and boil half an 
hour. 

Boiled Batter Pudding. Take one quart of milk, eight eggs, and 
eight spoonfuls of flour. Beat these very smoothly together ; put it 



APPENDIX. 52o 

into a flom-ed cloth or 'mtturccl moiikl, and boil it one hour. Serve 
it with wine sauce. If it i.s not rcciuirccl so rich, put in fewer eggs 
and more f.oi;r, and boTl it longer. 

Baked Apple Piiddinr;. Stew and strain .«ix large apples. While 
hot, add half a pound of butter, six eggs, beaten With half a pound 
of sugar; and the juice and grated peel of a good-sized lemon. Mix 
this all togelher. Pound six soft crackers. Butter a good-sized pud- 
ding-dish ; strew in some of the cracker, then a layer of the apple, 
then some cracker, and so on, until all is in. Bake about one hour. 

Birdnest Puddincj. Pare and core as many apples as will set in the 
dish, and fill the holes in the apples with white sugar and lemon-peel. 
Mix as much custard as will fill the di^h ; allow seven eggs to a quart 
of milk, and season it with sugar and lemon, or peach-water. Fill the 
dish quite full, set it into a pan with a little water, and bake it one 
hour. Serve it with cold or wine sauce. It is very nice without any 
sauce ; but in that case it should be made rather sweeter, or the apples 
should be scalded in a little sugar and water before it is baked. 

Sago and Apple Pudding. Let half a pint of sago steep in water 
enough to cover it, until dissolved, or about half an hour. Peel and 
core nine apples, but do not cut them open. Fill the middle with 
sugar, and a little spice. Arrange the apples in a pudding-dish, and 
pour over them the sago. Bake one or two hours. Eat cold or hot 

Transparent Padding. Beat up eight eggs very well ; put them into 
a sauce-pan with a pint of pounded sugar, half a pint of butter, and 
a little nutmeg Place over the fire, and stir c onstantly till it thickens^ 
and then set it away to cool. Make a rich puff paste, put it round 
the dish, and put in the pudding. Citron sliced very thin improves 
it Bake one hour in a not very hot oven. 

Boiled English Plum Pudding. One-half pound of kidney suet, 
minced very fine ; one-half pound of stoned raisins, one-half pound 
of currants, oue-half pound of bread, grated fine ; a quarter of a 
pound ot citron, cut tliin ; half a nutmeg, six eggs, one large teacup 
of milk, a little salt, and a wine glass of brandy. Mix well, and boil 
three hours For sauce, beat butter and sugar, a little nutmeg, with 
Madeira wine or brandy. Blanch two dozen sweet almonds, cut in 
strips, and sti^k in the pudding. 

Baked Batter Pudding. One quart of milk, four eggs, eight tnWe- 
spoo'i fills of flour, one te:isnoonful of salt, and one of soda. Bake 
forty minutes in a quick oven. 



526 APPENDIX. 

Rice Pudding. One cup of rice, one qnart of milk, yolks of three 
eggs, three tablespoonriils of sugar, butter size of a ■'.vahiut, grated 
rind of one lemon, whites of ihc eggs beaten and spread over tlie 
pudding after it is done. 

Plum PuddiiKj. One pound of bread, one qnart of milk, a large 
spoonful of flour, one teacup of sugar, one nutmeg, one teaspoonful 
of cinnamon, half a teaspoonful of pounded cloves, a piece of butter 
the size of an egg, the same quantity of chopped suet, one pound of 
raisins. Boil the milk. It is well to soak the bread in the milk over 
night. This pudding will keep several weeks ; when to be used, 
loosen it from the dish by a knile passed around it, and a little hot 
water passed around the edge. It should then be covered close, and 
set for half an hour into the oven. 

Cranberry Roll. Stew a quart of cranberries in just water enough 
to keep them from burning. Make it very sweet. Strain it through 
a colander, and set it away to cool. When quite cold, make a paste 
as for apple pudding. Spread the cranl)erries about an inch thick ; 
roll it up in a tioured cloth, and tie it close at the ends. Boil it 
two hours, and serve it with sweet saueo. Stewed apples, or any 
other kind of fruit, may be made in the same w;iy. 

Potato Pudding. Boil six good, mealy potatoes; mash them very 
fine; beat them well with the yolks of five eggs, half a pound of 
white sugar, quarter of a pound of butter ; beat the whites to a strong 
froth; the rind of a lemon, grated, and the juice. Stir all together 
well ; add a little salt, and a pint of good milk or cream. Bake about 
an hour and a half. 

Frozen Pudding Take stale plum and sponge cake ; slightly butter 
a tin pudding-mould, of a melon shape ; put a layer of cake at the 
bottom, then a layer of either strawberry or raspberry jam, then cake, 
then jam, and so on, until the mould is nearly full. Turn on a tea- 
cup of good, strong Madeira wine or brandy Make and boil a soft 
custard ; fill the mould ; let it stand until the cake is soft. Place it 
in ice and salt ; cover it all over ; let it stand six or eight hours ; dip 
the mould in*o boiling water, quickly, and then turn it on to the dish. 

Cold Snure Half a pound of white sugar, and half a pound of 
butter rubbed together until it is very white ; the juice of one lemon, 
and the rind grated, or essence of any kind as a flavor. 

Pudding Sauce. Half a nouud of fine powdered sugar, half a 
pound of butter, bent to a froth Avith the hand, half a pint of white 
wine, and one gill of water. Boil the wine and water ; turn it boil- 



APPEiNDIX. 527 

ing hot on ihc butter and sugar, stirring it briskly all the while. 
Have ready, in the sauce-dish, tome grated nutmeg or essence of 
lemon, and ;:cnd it to the table immediately. 

Puddini/ Sauce. Two cups of fine white sugar, one cup of butter, 
a wineglass of Madeira wine, and two eggs. Beat all this together 
for half an hour, and let it scald, not boil. If you wish it to look 
very yellow, add one more egg. 

Custard Pudding. Beat up seven eggs and half a pound of sugar ; 
stir it into one quart of milk, and season with peach-water or lemon. 
Butter a dish that will just hold it; pour it in ; seta pan into the 
oven half full of water, and set the pudding-dish into it to bake. 
Bake it three-quarters of riTk hour. Some persons bcril the milk, and 
turn it on the eggs, stirring it all the time until nearly cold, and then 
season and bake it. 

Baked Indian Pudding. Boil a quart of milk ; stir into it gradu- 
ally three gills of Indian meal and half a pint of molasses, and let it 
cool. Butter a brown earthern pan ; put into it half a pound of beef 
suet, chopped, and a spoonful of salt; then turn in the pudding and 
a quart of cold milk. Stir it up well, mixing the suet with the pud- 
ding. Add a pint of cold milk; do not stir it again. Bake it five 
hours. If baked in a brick oven, let it stand eight hours, over night. 

Squash Pudding. Take a crooked-neck or marrow squash, weigh- 
ing about four pounds ; peel it, and cut it into pieces about an inch 
square ; put them into a saucepan with a very little water, and let 
them stew gently three or four hours. Be careful to keep some water 
with it to prevent its burning. When it is very soft rub it through 
a sieve, and add a little salt. Beat up six eggs with a pound of sugar 
and a spoonful of mace or cinnamon ; warm a quarter of a pound of 
butter, so that it will stir in ; add a quart of good milk or cream, and 
balce it in deep plates lined with paste, and a thick rim. Cut a rim 
of paper to put over the crust, to prevent its burning. Bake it half 
an hour. 

Lemwi Pudding. Beat eight eggs very well; add eight ounces of 
•white sugar, the rind of t\vo lemons being rubbed with some lumps 
of sugar to take out the essence ; then peel and beat them in a mor- 
tar with the juice of the lemon, and mix all with six ounces of but- 
ter, warmed. Line the dish with rich paste ; turn, the pudding in, 
and bake it about one hour. 

Almond Pudding. Take half a pound of blanched almonds, and 
pound them in a mortar until they are quite fine. Beat up eight 



52S APPENDIX. 

eggs ; mix a pouiul of s.igar and thrce-(iuartcrs of a poiind of butter 
to a cream ; stir in the almunds, then the eggs, a little rose-water, and 
a pint of cream. Bake it in a deep plate or pudding-dish, with a rim 
of puff paste. Bake it three-quarters of an hour. 

Bread Pudding. Take a pound of stale bread ; boil a quart of milk ; 
pour it on the bread, and let it soak one or two hours ; then rub it 
quite fine with the hands. Beat up four or five eggs, and add them 
to it ; also a tablespoonful of cinnamon, or any other kind of spice ; 
two cups of sugar, and a little chopped suet, or a quarter of a pound 
of butter. Bake or boil it two hours. 

Plam Pudding. One and a half cups chopped beef suet, one cup 
of milk, one of molasses, three cups of ftour, four cups of raisins, 
half a teaspoonful of soda, a little salt, one teaspoonful of cloves, and 
one nutmeg. Boil four hours. 

Tapioca Pudding. Put a cup of tapioca into a pint of milk ; set it 
near the fire to swell, and stir it often. Then add a pint of cold milk, 
five eggs, two cups of sugar, a little salt, and spice of any kind. A 
cup of raisins and a cup of currants may be added. Bake it an hour 
and a half. 

Cocoanut Pudding. Break the cocoanut, and save the milk ; peel 
off the brown skin, and grate the cocoanut very fine. Take the same 
weight of cocoanut, fine white sugar, and butter ; rub the butter and 
sugar to a cream, and add five eggs, well beaten ; one cup of cream, 
the milk of the cocoanut, and a little grated lemon. Line a cFish with 
a rich paste ; turn the pudding in, and bake it about one hour. 

Vanity Pudding. One pint of flour, a little salt, one quart of milk, 
four eggs. Beat the whites to a stiff" froth, and put them in the la.^t 
thing. Bake in cups in a quick oven. 

PASTRY. 

To Glaze or Ice Pastry Beat the yolk of an egg, and lay it on 
with a small brush or bunch ot feathers ; or glaze with the whole egg 
beaten To ice tarts, moisten the paste with cold water, and sift white 
sugar over it before sending it to the oven ; or, when it is nearly 
baked, take it from the oven, brush it over with the white of an egg, 
well beaten, then wfll covered with sifted sugar, and sprinkled with 
a few drops of water. Return to the oven, and bake till done. 

Fine French Puff Paste. Take an equal weight of best butter and 
fine, dry, and siftetl flour. Allow for each pound of these the yolks 



APPENDIX. 529 

of a couple of oggs and a teaspoonful of salt. Break a few sniall 
bits of butter very lightly into the flour, put the salt into the centre, 
and pour on it sufficient water to dissolve it ; add a litt'e more water 
to the eggs, moisten the flour gradually, and make it into a ver'i 
smooth paste, rather soft in summer, but not stiff in winter. Priss 
the butter in a §oft cloth to remove all moisture from it, and form it 
into a ball, but do not soften it too much. If it is too warm, jjlacc it 
on ice, in summer, or in a cold place in winter, for an hour before it 
is used. Then roll out the crust of sufficient size to cover the butter, 
put the butter in the middle of the crust, and fold the latter well over 
it, and roll out as thin and lightly as possible, dredging the board and 
roller with flour to prevent the paste from sticking. Then fold the 
paste in three ; that is, fold it half over, and turn the other half over ; 
set it in a cool place a few minutes, give it two more turns in the same 
way, rolling it very lighth*, but of equal thickness, and taking care 
that the butter does not break through the paste. Set it aside again 
to cool, roll twice more, and fold in three ; then fold once more, and 
it is ready for use. 

Aunt Smith's Recipe. Sift into the bread-bowl a quart or more of 
flour ; into the middle put a teaspoonful of salt ; measure equal quan- 
tities of water and butter or lard. Put the butter into the flour, and 
work it in with tlte hand, gradually adding the water, and mixing the 
paste. Work in the flour slowly, and have the paste quite soft and 
well compounded. Then roll out a piece of the paste for your pies, 
place in the pan, fill with fruit or custard, and bake immediately in a 
quick oven. 

Crisp Paste. Take a quarter of a pound of flour, dried ahd sifted, 
add two tablespoon fuls ot powdered loaf-sugar, and the yolks of two 
eggs, well beaten, work it well with a horn spoon, and roll it out very 
thin, touching it as little as possible with the hands. The moment 
before putting it in the oven rub it over with the white of an egg 
whisked to a froth, and sift over it finely powdered sugar. Bake in a 
brisk oven 

Paste for Famili/ Pits. One pound and a half of flour, half a pound 
of butter : wet it vvith cold water enough to make a stiff paste ; work 
it well, and roll it out two or three times. 

Rice Paste. Mix half a pound of sifted ground rice with quarter 

of a pound of fresh butter , work it into a paste with cold water ; 

dredge the boird and roller with flour, and roll out the paste. Put 

over it in small pieces another quarter of a pound of butter ; fold it 

42 



630 APPENDIX. 

and roll out three times, each time strewing flour over and under it 
Cover the last, and glaze it Ixt'ore baking. To he eaten the same day 
it is baked. 

Rich Short Paste. Take equal qliantitics, by weight, of flour, butter 
and sugar ; rub the butter with the flour, mix in the sugar, and worlc 
the ingredients together till you form a paste. Put it half an ineh 
thick over the tart, having ordinary paste under it. 

Bick Pit ff" Paste. To one jjound of flour allow one pound of but- 
ter. Wash the butter in cold water ; divide it into three parts, make 
it into thin cakes and lay them on the ice to harden. Sift the flour; 
take one cake of tlie butter, and rub it well into the flour ; mix it r,p 
lightly with the luuuls with cold ice water, sprinkle a little flour on 
the paste-board, and roll the crast out very thin, rolling from j'ou 
always. Be careful not to break the crust with the edge of the roll- 
ing-pin. Roll out one cake of butter as thin as possible, lay it on the 
paste, dredge on a little flour, roll up th.' paste, then roll it out thin 
again ; roll out the other cake of butter, lay it on the paste, dredge 
on a little more flour, and roll it up again. Cut it into as many 
pieces as required. For edging, have three or four layers of paste 
rolled very thin, and put on the rim cf the plate. The flour used in 
dredging is included in the weight uf the flour for the paste. 

Mr. Blot's Paste A. Take half a pound of butter, put in a pail 
of very cold water fur half an hour, and take it out ; work it into a 
] oiind of flour with two eggs, half a pint of very cold water, and a 
quarter of an ounce of salt. Knead the whole with the hand ; then 
dredge the board with flour, and put the paste on it, roll it thin, fold 
it over once, and roll again thin. Repeat the same process five times 
in summer, and six in winter, and leave it thus half an hour in sum- 
mer, and an hour in winter, before using it. 

Apple Pie (1). Peel and core ten apples, and put thcin into a ves- 
sel to stew with very little water. When done, turn them into a dish 
to cool. While hot, add a small piece of butter, any kind of spice 
or flavoring you fancy, and sugar to taste. When cold, place them 
in the jjaste with an upper crust, and bake until the crust is done. 
Tills will make three small pies. 

Ajiple Pie (2) Pee! and halve about eight apples, take out the 
cores; put into a sauce] an two cups of sugar, a lemon, sliced, a gill 
of water. Wlieu this boils, i>ut in tlie a])ples, iii;d let tlicin cook 
slowly until tender and clear, then remove them with a spoon, -'o as 
not to break them. Boil down the syrup till just enough i? lett tor 



APPENDIX. 



531 



rhc pies. When cold, put the apple-! in tlic plate, around which a 
double rim ot" puff paste liaj bcc^u placed, bru.vh it ail with the white 
of an egg, and tin wh'.te sugar over it. Bake till done. 

Apple Pie (3). Qiiarler, peel, and core a^s many apples as 30U want; 
put them in pas"e in a tin pan or plate ; add sugar and spice to taste, 
and set into a warm oven. Twenty minutes af.er, make a few holes 
in the top crust to let the vapor out, and return to the oven till done. 
Some kind of apples require longer than others to cook. Dust the 
pic with sugar when you take it from the oven, and serve either hot 
or cold. Any other fruit pies are made in the same way. 

Pumpkin Pie. Peel the pumpkin, and take out the seeds, tlien ste# 
in as little water as possible, and strain thi'ough a colander or sieve. 
Allow thi'ee or four eggs to a quart of milk, or, if eggs are scarce, 
one egg to a pie will do. Sweeten with sugar or molasses, and sea- 
son with ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and a little salt. Bake without 
an upper crust in a hot oven until the centre of the pie is raised in an 
arch. It will settle back when cool. 

Carrot Pies are made like pumpkin pies. Peel or scrape, stew 
and sift through a sieve. 

Squash Pies are made like pumpkin pies. 

Custard Pie. Allow three well-beaten eggs to a pint of milk, in 
which a stick of cinnamon or a bit of lemon-peel has been boiled. 
Add a little salt and nutmeg, and pour the custard into a deep plate 
lined with thick paste. Bake one hour or till done. 

Potato Pie. Peel and boil Irish or sweet potatoes, and strain them 
through a sieve. Add to four ounces of potato one quart of milk and 
four eggs, with sugar and flavoring to taste. 

Cocoanut Pie. Grate the white part ot the cocoanut ; mix it with 
milk, and let it simmer ten minutes over the fire. Allow a quart of 
milk to a pound of cocoanut. Beat eight eggs thoroughly, and mix 
them with fear tablespoonfuls of white sugar and a glass of wine. 
Then stir this into the milk ; add two teaspoonfuls of melted butter, 
a small cracker, and half a nutmeg. Turn the whole into deep pie- 
plates lined with paste. Bake immediately. 

Cocoainu Cheese Cakes. Stew till tender six ounces of grated co- 
coanut and six ounces of white sugar with two tablespoonfuls of 
cocoanut milk. When coo!, add live eggs, beaten to a froth, and 
strained, and the grated rind of half a lemon. Line patty-pans with 
paste, put in the mixture, and bake from twelve to fifteen minutes- 



5o2 APPENDIX. 

LciiKM Cheese Cakes. Kusp tlie rind of a Icinon witli four ounces of 
fine sugar, then crush and mix it wuh the yoilis of three eggs and 
h.uf the whites, wcil beaten. Mix these together thoroiigh.y, and 
add tour tal)lesi)oonfiils of cream, four ounces melted bult^'r, the juice 
of the lemon, strained, and stirred in quickly by degrees ; a little 
orange-tiower brandy. Line some patty-pans with thin paste, pour on 
the mixture, and bake half an lionr in a moderate oven. 

Lemon Pie (1). Grate the rind of two lemons; peel off the white 
skin, and chop the lemon up fine. Add two cups of sugar, beat up 
two eggs, and stir it all together. Bake in a pan, with under and 
upper crust of thin paste, about twenty minutes. 

Lemoit Pk {-). Koll and cut one lemon; add one-half cup of mo- 
lasses, the same of sugar, one tablespoonful of flour, and one cup of 
water. Mix well, and boil all together. When cold, pour into a pan 
lined with pa.ste. This makes one pie, and must be baked thoroughly. 

Lemon Pic (o). Grate the rind of one lemon, and mix with it one 
cup and a half of sugar, one cup of water, the juice cf the lemon, 
and thicken the whole with one tablespoonful of flour. When cold, 
add the beaten yolks of three eggs. Line a pan with paste, put in the 
mixture, and bake. When nearly done, spread over it the whites of 
the eggs beaten to a froth, and mixed with a tablespoonful of white 
sugar. This makes one small pie. 

Lemon Pie (4). Dissolve one tablespoonful of corn starch in a 
little cold water, and jjour on it a cupful of boiling water ; when it 
boils up pour it on to one cup of sugar and a teaspoonful of butter. 
When cool, add one egg, well beaten, and the peel and juice of one 
Jemon. This is a very palatable and cheap pie when truit is scarce. 

Mince Pies (1). Three and a half pounds of good chopped beef, a 
pound of suet, three and a half pounds of raisins, half of them stoned 
and chopped, the other half left whole ; the same quantity of currants 
as of raisins, seven pounds of chopped apples, one pound of candied 
citron cut in thin slices, two pounds of sugar, one ounce of nutmegs, 
one quart Madeira wine, one pint best brandy, one pint golden syrup 
or best molasses. These ingredients, put down in a close jar, will 
keep all winter. Cider mav be substituted for the wine and brandy. 

Mince Pies (2). Minee finely eight large apples, a pound and a half 
of stoned raisins, half a pound of orange-peel, a pound and a half 
of fresh beef. Mix with these, four ounces of sweet almonds, ]iound- 
ed to a paste with a little wine, half a grated nutmeir, a quarter of an 
ounce of pepper, a little clove and a little pounded cinnamon, one 



APPENDIX. 533 

pound of brown sugar, and a pint of wine or brandy. Mix these 
ingredients thorouglily, and pack down closely m stone jars, carefully 
covered. 

Mince Pies (3). Take a neat's tongue, rub it with salt, and let it 
lie three or four days, then boil it till a broom straw will go through, 
skin, and mince line. With this, mix two pounds of fresh sirloin 
beef, boiled tender and chopped fine ; two pounds of raisins, stoned 
and chopped ; half an ounce of mace, quarter of an ounce of cloves, 
tlie same of black pepper, a large nutmeg, four pounds of apples 
chopped fine, one pound of brown sugar, and half a pint of sj.rup or 
good molasses. Pack it in jars. When made into pies, add citron 
cut fine, wine or cider, and preserved orange-peel. The syrup of pre- 
served pickles, cherries, and strawberries enriches and improves 
juince pies. 



ADDITIONAL MISCELLANEOUS RLCIPES. 

To cook Muccaroni. Simmer a quarter of a pound of maccaroni in 
plenty of water, until it is tender. Strain off the water, and add a 
pint of milk or cream, an ounce of grated cheese, and a teaspoonful 
of salt. Mix well together, and strew over the top two ounces of 
grated cheese and crumbs of bread. Brown it well in baking, on the 
top. It will bake in half an hour. 

Pickled Walnuts. Take a hundred nuts, an ounce each of cloves, 
allspice, nutmeg, whole pepper, race ginger and horseradish, half a 
pmt of mustard seed, tied in a bag, and four cloves of garlic. Wipe 
the nuts, prick with a pin, and put them in a pot, sprinkling the spice 
ever them as you lay them in. Add two tablespoonfuls of salt. Boil 
vinegar enough to cover them and pour it over the nuts and spice. 
Cover the jar close and in a year the pickles will be ready for use. 

Scotch Marmahide. Take equal quantities in weight of Seville 
oranges and loaf sugar ; cut the oranges into halves, take out the pulps, 
and put the rinds into cold water; boil them till tender, changing the 
water once or twice, and when cold remove the white from the ]:eel ; 
mash the orange pulps and squeeze it through a cloth, adding a little 
water the second time or squeezing ; then shred the peel fine, add the 
juice and sugar, and boil fwcnty minutes over a slow fii-e. 

To cook Pigpom. Stuff them like turkeys, put them in a pot breast 
downwards, and cover them with salted water an inch above the top, 



534 APPENDIX. 

and simmer them two honr'^ if teiKL'r nnd thrt^e if tough. "When 
nearly done, stir in a bit of Ijut er the size of a goose egg, for every 
dozen pigeons. Take them up and add a little flour paste to the 
gravy, with salt and pepj)er, pour some of it over them and juit the 
rest in a gravy dish. 

Stniwhernj Vincyar. Put four pounds very ripe strawberries, nicely 
dressed, to three quarts of the best vinegar, and let them stand three 
or four days. Then drain the vinegar through a jelly-bag, and j.c^ur 
it on to the same quantity- of fruit. Repeat the process in three d.iys 
a third time. Then to eaeli pound of liquor thus obtained, add one 
pound of white sugar. Bottle it and let it stand covered but not tight 
corked, a week, then cork it tightly, and set it in a dry, cool place, 
where it will not frieze. Raspbcny vinegar can be made in the same 
way. 

Milk Lemonade. Pour a pint of boiling water on to six ounces of 
loaf-sugar, add a quarter of a pint of lemon juice and half the quan- 
tity of good sherry wine. Then add thrce-iiuarti r : of a pint of cold 
milk and strain the whole to make it nice and clear. 

Wi7ie Whiy Set half a pint of milk in a pan over the fire and 
pour into it, when hot, port or sherry wine, stirring it all the time, 
until the curd separates from the whey and gathers into a ball on the 
side of the dish. This is a very palatable, nourishing and harmless 
drink for invalids. 

Oyster Sauce. Take a pint of oyster juice, add a little salt and pep- 
per, and a stick of mace, boll it ii\ c minutes, then add two teaspoon- 
fuls of flour, wet up in h ilf a teacup of milk. Let this boil two 
minutes, then put in the oysters and a l)it of butter the size of an egg. 
In two minutes it will be done and should be taken up. 

Cold Cream. With two ounces of oil of almonds mix one ounce 
of spermaceti, one drachm of white wax, melt them togetlier and per- 
fume with rose-water. 

Cologne Water. One drachm each, oil of lavender, oil of lemon, 
oil of rosemary and oil of cinnamon. Add two drachms oil of bcr- 
gamot, mix in a vial and add a pint of alcohol. 

Simple Cerate. Melt together equal quantities of white wax and 
spermaceti, then add an equal qu.antity of sweet oil. 

Best remedy for burns. Pound and sift wood soot, mix it with sweet 
lard, spread on linen rags and apply. If the skin is ofi^, the air should 
be carefully excluded from the surface. If the burns are large and 
b.id, "ive a mild cathartic. 



APPENDIX. 635 

Seidlilz Powders. Two drachms of Rochelle salts and two scruples 
of bicarbonate of soda, in a white paper, thirty live grains of tartaric 
acid in a blue one. Dissolve that in the wliite paper in half a L^lass 
of water and add the other powder dissolved in another half glass of 
water. It is a gentle laxative. 

SOUPS, MEATS, FISH, AND MADE DISHES. 

Crab Soup. Scald the crabs to kill them. Then open them and 
remove the parts not edible; put the fat in a dish by itself. Place 
the crabs over the fire and stew about an hour, adding a little salt, 
pepper, rice, and two or three pods of okra cut in slices. When 
nearly done put in the fat, boil five or ten minutes and serve. 

Mullagatawny Soup. Take four pounds of a breast of veal, cut it 
in pieces an incli long by two inches wide, put the trimmings into a 
stew pan with two quarts of water and a dozen black peppercorns, 
and the same number of allspice berries ; skim frequently and let it 
boil an hour and a half; while it is boiling fry the bits of veal with 
onions in butter a nice brown, and when they are done pour the broth 
over them, and set the whole over the fire, skimming it clean as it 
boils for half an hour. Then mix two spoonfuls of curry and of 
flour smoothly in water, add this to the soup with salt as needed, 
simmer gently till the veal is quite tender and serve. Fowls or 
rabbits may be used instead of veal, and other seasonings than pepper 
and allspice used if preferred. 

Beef Soup. Crack the joints of beef well, put them into cold 
water, let the water come to a boil and skim Avell. Let it simmer 
slowly till the meat is done, closely covered. About five hours is the 
right time. Then set it away to cool. When cold remove all the 
fat, and into the clear liquor put vegetables, onions, carrots, turnips, 
celery, cabbages, cut in dice. Th^^ne, sage, and pepper make good 
seasoning. Thicken the soup with rice, barley, or flour. 

Clam Soup. Open forty or fifty clams, chop them fine, with an 
onion, a bunch of minced c lery, and a salt-spoon each of mace and 
pepper. Put all, with the liquor of the clams, in a saucepan, thicken 
it with two tablespoonfuls of butter rolled in floiir, and add a little, 
milk. Simmer twenty minutes; stir in the beaten yolks of five eggs, 
put bits of toasted bread into the tureen and serve. 

Bean Soup. Pick over the beans, wash them, parboil them, ])onr 
off the water and put them on in fresh water with a few slices of 



586 APPENDIX. 

ham or beef. Boil them all to rags, strain tlirouf,^h a colander, return 
to the pot and add a little chopped celery, an onion, a bunch of herbs, 
and boil slowly half an hour. Strain and serve. 

(lumho. Take a nice fat hen or two chickens, cut np and put into a 
pot and fry ; when it is fried brown, not scorched, put in two quarts 
of finely sliced okra (the white is preferable), four large tomatoes, 
and two onions, peeled and chopped fine. Keep covered with water, 
and have the kettle tightly closed. Add boiling water as it wastes, 
and boil without intermission, but slowly, three hours; add salt and 
pepper to taste. Serve with rice, boiled dry. 

Duck to lioast. There is no better way to roast ducks than to fol- 
low the directions for roast goose. Green peas are the epicure's de- 
light with hot roast duck. Celery .sauce is served with cold roast 
duck. 

Gihiet Pie. Take the feet, necks, wings, gizzards, livers, and heart, 
and heads, if you wish, of ducks or geese, boil till tender, place thera 
in a deep dish, season with pepper and salt, and cover with paste not 
too rich, and bake till the cover is done. It may be eaten cold or hot. 

Roast Sucking Pig. The pig should be three or four weeks old, and 
baked the day or the day after it is killed ; after the first day it loses, 
every hour it is kept, some of the flavor and firmness of the meat. For 
stufting, take five ounces of grated bread, two ounces of powdered 
sage, and a large onion, chopped fine; season with pepper and salt, 
and mix them together with an egg. After having cut off the toes 
and wrapped tlie skin about the ends of the legs, put in the stuffing, 
sew it up and put it to bake, with a pint of water and a tablcspoonful 
of salt. When it begins to roast, flour it well and baste with the 
drippings. Bake till the eyes drop out, — about three hours. For 
sauce, scald and skin the tongue, and boil it with the feet, liver, and 
heart; when done, mince fine, season, add an onion chopped fine, 
parsley, and sweet herbs. Boil all together, thicken with flour rubbed 
up with butter, and serve in a sauce boat. 

Roast Lamb. For a fore-quarter of ten pounds' weight, two hours' 
time will be required ; for a hind-quarter of the same weight, two aud- 
a-half hours. Neither lamb nor veal is agreeable when underdone, 
and should not be taken from the fire until the gravy which drops 
from it is perfectly colorless. Prepare forcemeat by taking a quarter 
of a pound each of finely -minced suet and grated bread, add finely- 
chopped parsley, sweet maijoram, some grated lemon jieel, a very 
small slice of onion minced vi'ry fine, a little pepper and salt, and mi.K 



APPENDIX. 637 

the whole togetlicr with ouc or two wellbeatcn eggs. Place the 
forcemeat between the bone and the fiesh and all underneath the 
kilnev. Koast slowly, baste well, and serve with green peas and 
mint sauce. 

^ansaije Meat Six pounds of fresh pork, two of lean beef, four 
tcaspoonfuls of black pepper, eight of salt, and six of powdered sage 
and summer-savory. Chop fine, and put in skins or cases made of 
old muslin. 

Bojs' Heart Sausages. Ten pounds of hogs' hearts, five pounds of 
fat pork, six ounces of salt, three ounces of black pepper, sage and 
other aromatics to taste. Chop fine, and put in ^kins. 

Scnipple. Take all the odd bits of lean, the faces of the porkers, 
a small portion of the liver, and boil them all together till the bones 
drop out. Pick out the bones and evei'vthing not eatable, chop the 
meat fine, drain all the liquor back into the pan and remove all the 
fat ; thicken the liquor with Indian meal, and boil it till it is as thick 
as batter, then put in the chopped meat, sage, salt, and pepper, boil 
all together, and take out into pans. When cold, cut in slices and fry 
for breakfast. 

Singed K(j(js. Boil the eggs hard, cut them in two lengthwise, and 
renu)ve the yolks, which chop, adding to them some cooked chicken, 
lamb, veal, or pickled tongue, chopped fine; season the mixture, and 
add enough gravy, or the raw yolk of an egg, to bind them ; stuff the 
cavities, smooth them, and press the two halves together ; roll them 
in beaten egg and bread crumbs twice. When just ready to serve, 
dip them, in a wire basket, into boiling lard, and when they have 
tjiken a delicate color, drain. Serve ou a napkin, and garnish with 
pai-sley or any kind of leaves, or serve with a tomato sauce. 2. Boil 
the eggs hard and cut them in two ; take out carefully the yolks, 
which mash well, adding a little finely-minced onion, chopped parsley, 
pepper, and salt. Mash also double the quantity of bread, which has 
been snaked in milk; mix bread, yolks, etc., together; then bind 
them with a little raw yolk of &gg. Taste to see if they are properly 
seasoned. Stuff the eggs with the mixture, so that each half has the 
appearance of containing a whole round yolk; smooth the remainder 
of the mixture on the bottom of a pie pan ; arrange the halves sym- 
meirically in this bed ; brown a little in the oven. 

ToisIkI Cheese, Cut a slice of bread half an inch thick ; pare off 
the crust, and toa.st it very lightly on one side, so as just to brown it. 
Cut a slice of good fat mellow cheese, a quarter of an inch thick, 



538 APPENDIX. 

and half an inch each way less than the bread ; pare off the rim and 
remove all specks, lay it on the toasted bread in the cheese toaster ; 
take care that it does not burn, and stir it with a spoon to prevent a 
pellicle forming on the surface. Have ready good pepper, mustard, 
and salt. If these directions are followed, the cheese will eat mellow, 
and will be uniformly done, and the bread crisp and soft, and will 
well desen'e its ancient appellation of a "rarebit." It must be 
eaten as soon as it comes to the table. 

Prairie Chickens. If they are young, they are delicious fried a 
nice brown ; if old, take some fat bacon cut fine, a few cloves, two or 
three onions, pepper and salt to taste, and stew until the meat comes 
off the bones; thicken with a little flour, and you have a most excel- 
lent dish. 

Roast Turkey. Do not allow turkeys to be fed for a day or two 
before they are killed, which in cold weather should be a week before 
they are cooked ; this makes them much more tender than they would 
otherwise be. In drawing, leave all the fat in the fowl, wash and 
rinse well, drying inside and out with a clean towel. For the stuffing 
of a turkey weighing fifteen pounds, allow half a loaf of bread, fifty 
oysters, with their liquor, half a pound of butter, pepper, salt, sum- 
mer savory and thyme to taste. Boil the oyster liquor and strain it 
over the bread, add the seasoning, and if more moisture is needed, 
add boiling water. When this mixture is cool, add the oysters, taking 
care not to break them. If the turkey is not to be roasted the day it 
is stuffed, the dressing must be entirely cold, as it will sour if ser^'cd 
up warm. Allow four or five hours for a fowl of this size, in a slow 
oven, basting frequently, and salting when half done. The gizzard, 
liver, and heart should be boiled, chopped fine, and with their broth, 
added to the gravy, which is to be thickened with flour. Serve with 
cranberry sauce. 

To Droll Shad. Eemove the roes, clean and dry thoroughly, wrap 
in buttered jjaper and place over a good fire; turn over two or three 
times, and when done take the paper off and serve. Fish when 
thoroughly done feels firm and elastic under the pressure of the 
finger. 

[Note. — We always succeed best in broiling shad when we sit 
down with one hand on the handle of the broiling-iron, and look at it 
every minute while it is cooking, turning it when it begins to brown 
too much on one side, and so adjusting it over the fire that every jmrt 
shall be done alike. There is nothing that will insure perfect success 



APPENDIX. 539 

like giving one's whole mind to Lroilinp; fish or Ktenk. If they, either 
of them, are served with a divided heart wiiile over the fire, they re- 
venge themselves on tlie cook by being irregularly done, or scorched, 
or tough, or sodden. Fish, like steak, should not be salted till it is 
nearly cooked. Salt hardens the fibre, and draws out the juices, 
which sliould be retained until the meat is done. | 

Fried Shad. Divide the two halves into pieces two or three inches 
wide, and lay them in boiling fat ; fry a rich brown on both sides, and 
serve hot. Cook the flesh side first, the skin side last. The roes may- 
be fried in the same way. 

Stewed Shad. Clean and prepare the fish, ])lace it in a fish-kettle, 
with parsley, thyme, an onion chopped, a pinch of allspice, salt, and 
pepper ; cover with water, and boil gently till cooked ; then take from 
the kettle and place on a dish ; put two ounces of butter in the kettle, 
and when melted and mixed with the sauce, thicken with a table- 
spoonful of flour; stir with a wooden spoon till of a proper thickness, 
strain on the fish {which has been kept warm), and serve. If there 
is any left for the next day, warm it, but do not allow it to boil. 

Scalloped Clams. Chop the clams, fi'l a well-buttered dish with 
alternate layers of clams and powdered crackers, season with pepper, 
and a very little mace or nutmeg; finish with a layer of cracker 
crumbs. Bake a light brown. 

Lobsters. Put into boiling water, and boil fifteen minutes for every 
pound in weight. Remove from the kettle, and when cool, crack the 
claws and remove the meat ; open the body and take out the meat. 
There is a dark vein running through the body, which should be 
taken away. When cold cut the meat in small pieces, put it with 
butter, pepper, salt, and a tablespoonful of vinegar, or lemon juice, 
in a frying pan ; heat all together thoroughly, and serve with Mayon- 
naise sauce. 

Smelts. Draw them through the gills and wipe them with a soft 
cloth, but do not wash them ; dip them into the yolk of an egg, then 
roll them in very fine bread crumbs, mingled Avith flour; fry them four 
minutes in hot fat. Lay them in the dish, head and tail alternately ; 
serve with melted butter, and garnish with pareley. 

Salt HfcicL-ercl. Put a mackerel to soak over night in plenty of 
■water, with the flesh down and the skin up. In the morning drain 
and wipe it dry ; broil over hot coals, and serve with melted butter. 
Or, soak till dinner time, then roll it in a cloth, put it in plenty of 
boiling water, and boil half an hour. Drain from the water and l.iy 



640 APPENDIX. 

it on tli« j)latter, iiiid cover with a sauce made as follows : " Take a 
piece of Ijiittcr tlit! size of au egg, mix with it smootlily a tablesjiooii- 
ful of flour, ]>our over the whole a half pint of boihng water, stirring 
till the gravy is smooth; let it boil three or four minutes, iheiu jjour 
over the fish; garnish with slices of lemon. Xo recipe we have ever 
tried for cooking salt mackerel is so good as this. 

Fried Oysters. Drain them well, sprinkle on them pepper and salt, 
and let them stand in a cold place half an hour before cooking. Then 
roll each oyster in bread crumbs and dip it in an egg beaten up with 
half a cup of milk, roll it again in bread crumbs, and fry a light- 
brown in boiling lard. Garnish with lemon, chopped pickles, or 
chow-chow. 

Canned Salmon. Prepare thin slices of buttered toast ; on these 
spread the salmon, after heating it and sea,souing it with pepper and 
salt ; place a jjiut of milk over the fire, and when hot thicken it with 
flour and butter stirred together and cooked ; pour tliis over the 
salmon, and serve. 

Codjish Balls. After cutting the codfish in pieces, soak it an hour 
in luke-warm water. Eemove all the skin and bones, pull into shreds, 
and put over the fire in cold water. When it boils change the water ; 
repeat this process a second time, but do not boil the fish, as boiling 
only toughens it. Boil potatoes tender, mash while still hot, add a 
little butter, and mix the two, having half as much codfish as jjotato, 
before either has had time to cool. This is the important element in 
having them good — that they be mixed together while hot. Form 
into balls and fry them in boiling lard, or saute them in hot butter 
They may be made the night before serving, but are better if fried as 
soon as made. Garnish with parsley. 

Soft Shell Crabs. Remove the spongy substance and the sand bag, 
dry them, sprinkle on pepper and salt ; mix a gill of milk with one 
well-beaten egg ; add pepper and salt, roll the crabs in flour, then dip 
them in the egg, then in bread or cracker crumbs, and fry in boiling 
lard. 

Potted ilackerel. Cut off the heads, take out the roes, clean the 
fish thoroughly, rub them inside with a little salt, put back the rocs, 
season them with allspice, black pepper, and salt, lay them in a pan, 
cover with equal quantities of vinegar and water, tie over the pan 
strong white paper, doubled, and bake them for an hour in a slow 
oven. They will keep two weeks. Other fresh fish are good prepared 
in the same way. 



APPENDIX. C41 

Veal Loaf. Three poiimls of vcal-cutlot, one-quarter of a pound 
of fat pork, chopped line as mince meat, add bread crumbs till it is 
stiff, break in two eggs, add one tabiespoonful of salt, the same of 
black pepper, a teaspoonful of cayenne, and one nutmeg. Work it 
all together in loaf-shape, break an egg on top, and rub it all over the 
loaf, sprinkle bread crumbs over it, put it into a baking pan with 
water and bake three hours, basting frequently. It is not good warm, 
but is to be eaten cold as a supper dish. The bread crumbs are made 
of stale bread, browned in the oven and rolled fine. They are better 
than crackers for sea!lo])cd oysters, and many other culinary purposes 
where cracker-crumbs are generally used. 

Beef Tomjiie. It it has been dried and smoked, soak it over night; 
but if only pickled, soak it five hours. Put it in a pot of cold water, 
and let it set over a slow fire for an hour before it comes to a boil, 
then simmer it gently for three or four hours till it is done. When 
done a broom straw will pierce it readily. Peel it, rub it over with the 
yolk of an egg, strew bread crumbs and finely-chopped herbs over it; 
baste sligiitly with melted Imtter, and brown it in the oven for a few 
minutes. Surround the root with a paj)cr frill, and serve. 

Round Steak Stuffed. Take a steak weighing two or three pounds, 
spread over it a layer of stufiing made of bread crumbs and beef suet, 
in equal quantities, seasoned with sweet herbs, and mixed together 
with a couple of eggs. Roll this up and tic it, sprinkle salt over the 
top, and bake it, basting often. Serve with tomato sauce around it. 
Make a gravy of the drippings, season well, and pour it over the meat 
when served. Carve by slicing neatly off the end of the roll. 

Sweetbreads. Veal sweetbread.s are best. They spoil very soon, 
As soon as they come from market they should be put into cold water 
for about an hour ; then lard them, (that is, with a larding needle draw 
through them strips of fat pork or bacon,) put them into salted boil- 
ing water, or into stock, let them boil about twenty minutes, or until 
they are thoroughly done ; throw them into cold water for only a few 
moments. They will now be firm and white. Remove carefully the 
skin and little pipes, put them in a cool place till you wi.sh to fry them. 
Then cut them in even-siz d pieces, sprinkle over pepper and salt, egg 
and bread-crumb them, and fry them in hot lard. When done, put 
them on a hot dish, pour out the lard, leaving in the pan half a tea- 
spoonful, into this stir a teaspoonful of flour, and when brown pour 
in a cupful of milk ; stir constantly till done, season Avith pepper and 
salt, and pour over the sweetbreads. If green peas are on the table. 



542 APPENDIX. 

scn^e the sweetbreads ■without gravy, ])uttlng the peas in the center of 
the dish, and the sweetbreads arotuul them. Tiiey are often served 
■whole with cauliflower or .asparagus heads, when the cream sauce is 
poured over both ; or they are iiici-ly piled in the centre of the dish 
■with macaroni cooked, with cheese placed around them, or with 
stufit(id tomatoes alternating with the sweetbreads on the dish. 

Vtal Cutlets. Cut tliem into pieces equal in size, beat them with a 
knife into shape, dip them first into egg and then in bread crumbs, 
and fry them slowly in hot Cat; ■vvhen done lay on a dish, pour off 
nearly all the-fat from the frying pan, stir into what remains a little 
flour, iidd a little water, salt, pejjpcr, and leiuon juice; pour this 
gravy o^cr the cutlets and serv(!. 

Boiled Corned Derf. Into enough boiling water to cover it ])ut the 
beef, and boil it very slowly, for every jiound three-quarters of an 
hour. When done cut off what is needed for immediate use, and let 
the rest remain in tlie liquor in which it was boiled until cold. This 
will render it much more juicy and ])aiatablc than if it were cooled out 
of the liquor. 

Potted Beef. Salt three pounds of lean beef witli half a pound of 
common salt, and half an ounce of saltpetre for two or three days. 
Divide it into pieces of a pound each, and put it into an earthen pan 
just large enough to contain it; pour in half a pint of water, cover it 
close with ])astc made of flour and water, and set it in a very slow 
oven for four hours ; then remove the paste, jiour the gravy into a 
bowl, shred the meat fine, moisten it with gravy, pound it thoroughly 
in a marble mortar with fresh butter till it becomes a fine paste, sea- 
son it with black pepper, allspice, clovers, and nutmeg, ])ut a weight on 
it and let it stand all night ; when (juite cold, cover it with clarilied 
butter and tie it over with a ])aj>er. A nice dish for travelers to carry 
along for lunch. 

Roust on the Pot. Select .a ])ieee of the round or neck, put it with 
a nice piece of fat and the tough ])arts of steak, cover partly with hot 
■water and simmer very slowly two or three hours, till every drop of 
the water is boiled away and the meat is perfectly tender. Let it 
brown a little in the hot fat, then take out the meat. Stir into the f;it 
a handful of flour and let it brown, then add boiling water till the 
gravy is of the right thickness. Very tough meat may be rendered 
delicious when cooked in this way, if taken from a sound and well- 
fiavored animal. 

To Cook St((ik Tiuder. Cut the steak on both sides with a sharp 



APPENDIX. 643 

knife in little squares a quarter of an inch in size, and two or three 
lines deep; then place it in the frying pan, having the latier hot, and 
with a bit of melted butter in it, put a cover over the frying pan to 
confine the ifteam. When cooked on one side, turn it over on the 
other ; when nearly done, remove the cover and brown a little. Take 
it up on a warm platter, salt it and serve at once. Treated in this 
way, steak is much more juicy and tender than when pounded, and * 
better suited for those whose teeth are not good, than when cooked by 
the common method. 

BREAD. 

Oatmeal Bread. Stir into one quart of fresh oatmeal two quarts of 
water, and let the mixture stand over night In the morning add a 
tcaspoonful of fine salt, half a cup of sugar, and one quart of Graham 
floui', with which two teaspoonfuls baking powder has been thoroughly 
mingled. Put into pans without kneading, and bake in a quick oven. 
If the dough is too stifi", add more water. 

Gems. 1. Into a quart of Graham flour stir enough water to make 
a thick batter ; add salt to taste ; put in gem pans already hot and 
well oiled, and bake in a hot oven. 2. Beat an egg light ; stir it into 
a quart of Graham flour with a tcaspoonful of sugar, a tcaspoonful of 
salt, a pint or more of buttermilk or sour milk, and a tcaspoonful of 
soda dissolved in a little water. 

Wa^ffles. To one pint of lukewarm milk add four tablespoonfuls 
of baker's yeast, one tcaspoonful of brown sugar, one tablespoonful 
of melted butter, .a little salt, and flour to make a batter of the con- 
sistency of thick cream. Let it rise over night; in the morning, just 
before baking, add two avcU beaten eggs. If any flour is added after 
the batter is raised, the waffles wi'.l be sure to be tough. A little 
difference in the consistency of the batter will affect them very much. 
If they seem leathery, use less flour next time. 

Eusks. Di.ssoive two ounces cacli of butter and sugar in half a pint 
of warm milk; into this stir a pound of flour, two well beaten eggs, 
and a tablespoonful of good yeast ; sift a quart of flour into the bread 
bowl, make a well in the middle, pour in the batter, cover it with the 
flour and let it rise for an hour or longer ; then knead it into a firm, 
smooth dough, cut in small shapes, let them rise ; when light, bake 
fifteen minutes in a slow oven ; when (]uite cool, put them in u cool 
oven and dry thera for half an hour. Keep them in a tin box in a 
warm place. 



544 APPENDIX. 

French EoUs. Rub two ounces of butter into a pound of flour . add 
milk to make a stiff dougb, also the whites of three eggs beaten to a 
stiff froth, a tablcspoonful of strong yeast and a tcas]j()()nfiil of salt. 
Mix all well together, cover and set iu a warm place till Rglit. Then 
cut into small rolls and bake about ten minutes in a quick oven. Dip 
each roll in melted butter aud it will not stick to its neighbor. 

Bread. Boil three potatoes ; when soft, mash them through a 
sieve with one quart of boiling water; when cool, add one cup 
of yeast, flour to make a batter, and a little salt. Let it rise over 
night, and in the morning add one tablcspoonful of lard, the same 
quantity of sugar, and flour enough to make a dough stiff' cnougli to 
knead. Knead half an hour, cutting with a knife. Let it rise again, 
and after dinner cut out the dougli in biscuit shape, and let it rise till 
tea time. Bake the rest in loaves. This makes a large .sheet of bis- 
cuit and two loaves of very excellent bread. 

Rice Waffles. Two cups flour, three eggs, a cup aud a half of soft 
boiled rice, with milk sufficient to make a muffin batter ; add a little 
salt, beat it well, aud bake in waffle irons. 

Tea Biscuit. One quart of sweet milk, one small teacup of butter, 
one small teacup of sugar, one gill of good yeast, flour to make a 
sponge. Mix over night ; when light, stir in more flour till the 
dough is of the proper consistency ; press the knuckles firmly into the 
dough till they reach the bottom of the bowl, and when it rises to a 
uniform oval, it is ready to be worked over into biscuit. Knead twice, 
and when light the third time ; bake in a quick oven about twenty 
minutes. 

Vienna Bread. For four pounds of flour, take one and three-quarter 
ounces of Fleischmann's yeast, one-half ounce of salt, and tlire(^ pi its 
of milk and water, in equal portions. Dissolve the yeast and salt in 
the liquid and make a very thin sponge in the middle of the flo; r. 
Let it stand tliree-quarters of an hour, then stir in the rest of the 
flour. Let it stand two and a half hours. Then take it upon the 
board, cut it into pound pieces, knead a little, then cut each pound 
])iece into twelve pieces, form into circular balls of dough, and bake 
fifteen minutes in a very hot oven. 

Parker-House Foils. Take two quarts of wheat flour, make a hole 
in the cetiter, put iu a ])ieee of butter the size of an egg, a little salt, 
a tablcspoonful of white sugar ; pour over this a pint of milk pre- 
viously boiled, and cold, and one-half teacuji of yeast. When the 
sponge is light, mould for fifteen niiuutes. Let it rijC agaiu, aud cut 



APPENDIX. 645 

in round cakes ; when light, flatten each cake with the rolling-pin, 
put a sniail ])icce of butter on top, and fold each over on to itself. 
1 ut iu pans to ri.se, and when light, bake in a (juick oven. 

VEGETABLES. 

Polalo Salad. Boil the potatoes with the skins on till they are just 
done, not till they fall to pieces. Peel off the skins while hot and 
slice them thin. For every quart of sliced potato allow one table- 
spoonful of salad oil or melted butter and two of vinegar, salt and 
pepper to taste, a small onion, chopped very fine, and a good-sized 
apple, chopped very fine. 

Asparaijvs Salad. Boil the asparagus till done, about twenty min- 
utes, drain, season with salt and pepper, cover with vinegar; when 
cool, pour off the vinegar, baste with melted butter, and serve. 

Spinach. Pick it over carefully, removing all stems and withered 
leaves, wash well, and put into salted boiling water enough to cover 
it. Boil till tender, drain, and press through a colander. Then put 
it in a saucepan, with salt, pepper, and butter, and heat it over the 
fire a few minutes. Garnish with hard-boiled eggs, cut in slices, or 
lay it on buttered toast after the manner of asparagus, and garnish 
with sliced hard-boiled eggs. 

Poke Weed Greens. Cut off the young shoots when ten or twelve 
inches long, pick over carefully, wash well, put in boiling water and 
boil twenty minutes ; pour off the water, add boiling water enough to 
cover, and a handful of salt, boil forty minutes longer, and serve as 
spinach or dandelion greens. 

Maple Pods. The pods of the soft maple, when cooked like green 
peas, are as palatable. 

Saratoga Potatoes. Slice the raw potatoes vcrj-thin with a cabbage 
cutter, having first peeled them, throw the slices into ice- water for a 
few minutes, dry them on a towel, and throw them into boiling lard ; 
when they are nicely browned, drain carefully from the fat, s])read on 
a hot dish, salt at once, and set in the oven till enough are prepared 
for the meal. The dish must not be covered, as that would destroy 
their crispness. 

Parsnip Cakes. To eight ounces of grated raw parsnip add eight 
ounces of bread crumbs, half a pint of milk, four well beaten eggs, 
six tablespoonfuls of flour, and a little salt; fry in butter, or nice 
drippings. 

Rice. Wash in several waters, then to each cup of rice t.ike four 



5i6 APPENDIX. 

Clips of water and a little salt, put in a ])nn and set over the fire 
Boil slowly wiiliout stirring till the rice is dry, wiien it will be done 
Serve with rich meat gravy. 

Artic/iofces. Take off the outer leaves, clean them nicely and put 
them in boiling water; when the le.ives come off easily they are 
cooked; when done, take them from the water and turn them upside 
down to drain. The base of the leaf is the jiart eaten. It may be 
dipped in a mixture of pepper, salt, and melted butter. 

Jerusalem Artic/wkes. Pare them and boil them in milk and water, 
being careful to take them up the moment they ai-e done. 

Cabbage with ^lilk. Shred the cabbage fine, put it in a saucepan, 
pour boiling hot water over it ; cover tightly and stew for ten minutes. 
Then pour off the water, and for every head of cabbage pour over a 
pint of rich milk. When it boils, thicken with a little flour, salt to 
taste, and serve. Cooked in this way, cabbage is almost as good as 
cauliflower. 

Caulifloiver. Remove the outer leaves, and put the cauliflower into 
boiling water, well salted. As soon its it is tender, drain it from the 
water and serve with sauce made as follows: In two tab'.espoonfuls of 
butter, cook thoroughly a tablespoonful of flour, then add milk or 
cream till a gravy is made, season to taste; when the gravy is cooked, 
])our it over the car.liflower and serve. 

E<jg Plant. Coil the egg plants whole till a straw will penetrate 
them, then remove from tho water, cut open and tr.ke out the inside ; 
with this mix cracker crumbs, butter, salt, aiul pepper, and bake till 
brown on the top. Serve with a bit of lemon for each plate. 

String B^ans. String them, and cut them in thin shavings, length- 
wise, with a sharp, thin bladed knife ; throw i'nto salted boiling water, 
and boil fast fifteen minutes; serve as soon as they arc done. The 
pods should be very young, freshly picked, and tender. 

Cucumbtrs. Pee! them, cut them in longitudinal slices a quarter of 
an inch thick, roll them in fine bread crumbs and fry them brown in 
nice drip])ings. Serve with rich beef or veal gravy. Thus prepared, 
this vegetable may be eaten with impunity. 

Tomntne.", Scalloped. Peel nice large tomatoes and cut them in 
slices a quarter of an inch in thickness. Lay in a deep dish a layer of 
tomatoes, then one of bread or cracker crumbs, butter, salt, a litt'e 
sugar, then a layer of tomatoes, and so on till the dish is full, having 
tomatoes la.st. Sprinkle over bread crumbs, sugar, and butter ; cover 
with a tin or plate, and bake half an hour; then remove the cover 
and brown the top. 



APPENDIX. 647 

Sliced Potirto. A nice breakfast dish is ma'le by slicinj,^, vor^v thin, 
cold boiled potatoes, aud heating tliem to the boiling point, with milk ; 
salt shonld be addcl, and the whole served very hot. 

To Can Corn. Cut the corn from the; cob, pack very closely with 
the potato-masher into quart tin cans, put on the covers. Have a 
woolen frame to fit the bottom of the wash boiler, and about five 
inches high, put iu the cans, lay a smooth board over them, with a 
weight on top. Let them boil four hours, taking care that the water 
in the boiler does not enter the cans, and adding loiling water as the 
water in the boiler wastes. Take out one can at a time, wipe dry, aud 
seal as other fruit. 

To Dry Sweet-Corn. Select ears of corn that arc just right for the 
table, husk them, throw them into boiling water, and let ihem boil 
nard five minutes; then cut the corn from the ear, spread it (evenly 
and thinly on earthen or new tin dishes, and subject it at once to the 
heat of the morning sun ; or place it in an oven of unvarying tem- 
perature, where the process of drying will begin at once and be 
promptly completed. The sooner it is dried after it is cut from the 
cob the better, and the sooner it is prepared after it is gathered the 
better. 

CAKES, PUDDINGS, PIES, DESSERTS. 
Marble Cake. (White part) One cup of white sugar, one half 
cup butter, one half cup sweet milk, two cups flour, one teaspoon ful of 
cream tartar, half a teaspoonful of soda, whites of four eggs. (Elack 
part ) One cup brown sugar, one-half cup molasses, one-half cup l)ut- 
ter, one half cup sweet milk, yolks of four eggs, one teaspoonful cream 
tart:ir, one-half teaspoonful soda, two cups flour, one teas])Oonfr.l ;ill- 
spice, one of nutmeg, two of cloves, one tablespoonful cinn:(mon. 

Ice Cream Cake. One cup butter, one cup corn-starch, one of milk, 
two cups of sugar, tAvo of flour, Avhites of eight eggs, one-ha'f tea- 
spoonful soda, one of cream tartar, bake as for jelly cake, and spre.ul 
icing between the layers. 

Raised Doughnuts. One cup of butter, one of sugar, one of yeast, 
three eggs, spice to taste, flour to make a stiff dough. Set to rise for 
several hours, and when light, do not roll out, but take out with a 
spoon and shape in the hand, rolling as little as possible. Fry in 
boiling lard. 

Gold Cnke. One cup butter, one of milk, two of sugar, five of 
flour, yolks of sixteen eggs, two teaspoonfuls soda, four of cream 
tartar. Flavor with vanilla. 



548 APPENDIX. 

Silver Cake. Ono cup hiittor, one of milk, four of wliitc surrnr, five, 
of flour, whites of .sixtciu cu^^'S, two leaspooufiils soda, l(jur of croaiiv 
t;irt:ir. I"^l;i\()r with lemon. 

'Si.-iler Am, as L'ah: One cup butter, one of milk, two of sugar, 
four of flour, three, eggs, one teaspoonful soda, two of cream tart sr. 
Divide the ingredients and make two loaves, jiuttiug the whites of the 
eggs into one, and the yolks into the other. 

Cocoamd Cake. One half cu]) hutter, one of milk, two cups ])ow- 
d(;red sugar, three of flour, three eggs, two tcaspoonfuls cream tartar, 
one of soda. Bake in jelly-eake tins. Grate one cocoanut. To one, 
half of this add whites of three eggs, beaten to a IVoth, anil one cup 
of powdered sugar ; l.iy this between the layers. Mix with t!ie otlu r 
half four tablespoonfuls jjowdered sugar, and strew on top of the 
cake. 

fSisttr Awi/'.s Cale. Three quarters of a cup of butter, two and a 
half cups sugar, one cup sweet milk, three of Hour, four eggs, one 
lemon, one small teaspoonful soda. 

Chocolate Cake. Two-thirds cuj) of l)utter, one scnnt cuj) milk, two 
cups sugar, three cups flour, Ave eggs, two teaspoonfuls baking pow- 
der. Leave out the whites of two eggs for filling, which make thus : 
To eight tablcsjioonfuls grated chocolate add one and a h.ilf cups 
powdered sugar, two teaspoonfuls vanilla, one full tablesf)Oonfiil cons- 
starch, one-half pint hot water, aud boil till it thickens, stirring con- 
stantly. 

Ilickorij-Nut Cake. Beat together one pound of sugar, three quar- 
ters of a pound of butter, six eggs, half a cup of sweet milk and one 
pound of flour, with which has been thoroughly sifted three teaspoon- 
fuls baking powder; stir in a cui)ful of hickory nut meats, bake iu a 
steady but not too quick au oven. 

Johnny Cake. For twelve gem cakes take four large spoonfuls of 
corn meal, one of Graham flour, one of fine flour, oue teaspoonful of 
salt, one-half cup of butter, one cup of sour milk, tv/o eggs, one cup 
of sugar, one teaspoonful of soda. Bake half an hour or less. If you 
do not have sour milk, use sweet milk, and mix with the flour two 
teaspoonfuls baking powder. 

Ginger Bread. Take one cup of molasses, one cup of sweet milk, 
one cup of shortening, one-half cup of hot water, one teaspoonful 
soda ; stir in just enough flour to make it rollable. Bake from twenty 
to thirty minutes. 

Sponge Cake. Six eggs, three-quarters pound cf sujjar., one-half 



APPENDIX. 649 

pownd flour, one teaspooji^baking powder, and the juice and grated 
prcl dC one lemon. I'ut the sugar on the fire with one gill of water to 
huil. Tour hoiling hot over the eggs, heating very fast; when a little 
cool, add Hour with the haking powder sifted with it and the lemon 
peel and juice. 

r<o!j-Po!ij Pudding. Make dough as for hiscuit, and roll it out ahout 
an inch in thickness. Spread over it hlackberry jam, jjreserves, apple 
sauce, indeed almost any kind of fruit. Roll tightly, and tie in the 
pudding-hag, giving it plenty of room to swell. Boil an hour, and 
serve with any kind of sweet sauce. Or, bake in a cpiick oven thirty 
or forty minutes, and serve Avith .sauce. 

Puddin(i Sauce. Take a piece of butter the size of an egg, soften it 
somewhat by heat; then stir into it a tablespoonful of corn starch or 
flour, then a cup of sugar, and slowly add a teacupful of hot water, 
stirring it all the time. Let it come to a boil, or thicken up (in the 
top of the tea-kettle, or in a farina kettle) ; then remove and add a 
little spice or nutmeg, or two dessertspoonfuls of viTiegar. 

Fruit Pudding. Butter slices of stale bread soaked in milk, and 
place on the bottom of the pudding-pan a layer of bread, then one of 
fruit, then one of bread, and so on till the dish is full, having fruit on 
top. Bake till the fruit is done, and serve with rich sweet sauce. 

Tapioca Pudding icith Apples. Soak over night, in milk and water, 
a cupful and a half of tapioca. Pare and core a dozen apples, fill 
the holes where the cores come out with sugar, grate nutmeg over 
:hcm and hake till done. Then sweeten the ta])ioca, pour it over th« 
.ipples, and bake two hours. This makes one of the most delicious of 
desserts. 

DIackherri/ Ambrosia. Make a batter, as for hiscuit, of sour cream 
and flour, or of baking powder, flour and sweet milk, spread it half an 
inch thick on the bottom of an earthen pudding-dish, and cover with 
a layer of hlackberries. Place a little more of the batter on the sides 
of the dish, sprinkle over the berries sugar enough to sweeten them, 
dredge slightly with flour, and add another layer of berries. Con- 
tinue till the dish is full, having the last layer of batter. Bake nearly 
an hour. If the juice runs out, lift the edge of the crust with a fork, 
and it will run back. Serve warm, with sweet sauce. 

Strawberry Custard. Sprinkle upon a pint of strawberries a cupful 
of sugar, and spread over them a layer of maccaroons ; over the yolks 
of eight well-beaten eggs pour a quart of scalding milk, sweetened to 
taste. When cold, pour this over the strawberries, and on top put 



i'jO APPENDIX. 

the whites of the cjrgs beaten to a foam. Servo in a glass dish. 
Currant jelly may hf beaten with a jiart of the wliiic-, and the dish 
ornamented with alternate hills of snow and rose ((jlor. 

Tapioca Cream. Soak two thirds of a enj) of tajiioca over night 
in warm water; in the morning stir into it (jnc quart of scalding 
milk in a farina kettle. In a few minutes add the Ijcaten yolks of 
three eggs and one cup of sugar; stir thoroughly until it thickens 
like cream ; flavor with lemon or vanilla, and when nearly cool, jjour 
into a glass dish. Beat tlie whites of the eggs to a stiff foam, and stir 
gently into the mi.xture. Serve cold. 

Jce Cream. One ([uart of rich cream, boiled and set away till cold; 
half a pound of powdered loaf sugar, the juice of two large lemons, 
or a pint of strawberries or raspberries, or an ounce of bitter almonds, 
blanched and pounded with rose water, or some one of the various 
essences. Put the cream into the freezer and set it in a tub or pail. 
Fill the tub witli ice broken into very small j)ieccs, and .strew among 
the ice a large quantity of coar.se salt, taking care that none of the 
salt gets into the c;eani. Scra])e tiic cre;;m down with a spoon as it 
freezes round the edges of the tin. While the cream is freezing, stir 
in gradually the lemon juice, or the strained juice of the berries, or 
other flavoring. When it is all frozen, dip the tin in lukewarm water, 
take out the cream and serve. If it is to be molded, as soon as it is 
frozen put it in the molds and set them in a tub of ice and salt. Just 
before the cream is needed for use take the molds out of the tub, wipj 
or wash the salt carefully from the outside, dip the molds in lukewarm 
water and turn out the cream. 2. A jjint and a half of rich cream, 
a quart and a half a pint of fresh milk, one ])ound of loaf sugar, two 
eggs, one tablcspoonful of flour or corn-starch, essence to taste. Take 
half the milk and boil it, stirring in gradually the sugar. Beat the 
eggs well, add to them two tablespoon fuls of cold milk, and pour them 
into the boiling milk. Let them simmer two or three minutes, stirring 
all the time. Then remove from the fire and strain through a hair 
sieve or a piece of book-muslin. Add the cream and the remainder of the 
milk, and freeze as aiiovc directed. 3. Make a custard in the ordinary 
way, strain it, and instead of baking or boiling it, ])ut it into the 
freezer and freeze it. Tiiis is a very quick way of making ice-cream 
that will .answer the pur])ose when there is not time for a more elab- 
orate mode of preparation 

Cliocolatf. Custard. Yolks of six eggs, one cup sugnr, one-quarter 
pound of chocolate dissolved in one-half pint b(nling water, one and 



APPENDIX. 551 

one-half pints l)oiling milk, roiir tlic hot iiiilk on the eggs, stirring 
all the, time. After baking a fi'w itiinntes add moringue made of the 
whites o^thc eggs and six teas[)oonrnIs sugar. Serve cold. 

Cocoanul Cusiard. Boil a quart of milk, and thicken it with three 
tablespoonfuls of corn-starch or farina. Remove from the lire and 
add f(jur ounces of butter. "When cold stir iu the yolks of six eggs 
beateu with three-quarters of a ])ound of sugar, aud the grated pulp 
of one cocoanut ; add the beaten whitcsof the eggs; Hue tin pie-plates 
with fine paste, fill with the mixture and bake. 

Pop-Corn Balls. 1. Boil molasses to a candy, and put a quantity 
sufficient for one ball in a shallow dish or plate, stir in the coru and 
mold it into shape with the hands. Then stick pure white kernels all 
over the outside. 2. Pop the corn, avoiding all that is not nicely done, 
and put a half bushel of it on a large dripping pan. In a kettle place 
one pound of nice sugar, with a little water, and boil till it candies ; 
then remove from the fire, and pour into it six or seven tablespoonfuls 
of thick gum solution, made by pouring boiling hot water on gum 
arabic over night. Now dip the mixture upon various parts of the 
corn, putting a stick or the hands under the corn, lifting it up and 
mixing it until it all is saturated with the candy. Then with the 
hands mold it into balls, as the boys do snow-balls, being quick lest it 
sets before you get through. This will make about one hundred balls. 

Cream Pie. One cup white coffee sugar, one cup flour, three eggs, 
a little salt, one half leaspoonful soda, one teasjioonful cream tartar, 
sifted with the flour. Bake in a tin pie pan ; when done, split in two 
with a sharp knife, and spread custard between, made as follows : One 
pint of milk, one egg, one-fourth cup of flour, one-fourth cup sugar. 

Christmas Mincemeat. Three pounds of rib roast beef, five pounds 
of apples, one pound of fresh beef suet, two ])ounds of raisins, stoned, 
one pound whole, two pounds and a half of cun-ants, half a pound of 
mixed candied peel, the grated rind of three fresh lemons, the juice 
of two, two pounds of sugar, two nutmegs, dessertspoonful of mace, 
one of cinnamon, oueofalls])ice, one of ginger, one of salt, ajuntoffruit 
syrup, and a i)int of golden syrup boiled in two quarts of cider until 
reduced one-fourth, and then poured over the whole. Of course, the 
ingredients are separately^ prepared, and afterward thoroughly mixed. 

Lemon Pies. Two lemons, six eggs, two teacups sugar, two table- 
spoonfuls flour, one teacup boiling water, rich pastry for lining pans. 
These materials will make two pies. Grate off the yellow rind of the 
lemons for flavoring, throw away the thick white skin, and cut up the 



552 APPENDIX. 

remainder of tlic lemon very fine, being careful not to lose the juice. 
Add to this the sugar, the yolks of six eggs, well beaten, then the 
flour, and lastly the boiling water. Tour the mixture iut^pie pans 
previously lined, and bake. Prepare an icing with the remaining 
whites of six eggs, and when the pies are alight brown spread it 
smoothly over tliem ; return again to the oven and bake a light brown. 
Whoso makes this pie aright will have " food fit for the gods." 

Orange Pie. Grate the rinds of two oranges, and squeeze out the 
juice ; cream a quarter of a pound of butter, and add by degrees half 
a pound of sugar, the yolks of two eggs well beaten, then the rind 
and juice of the oranges. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff 
froth, and mix them lightly with the other ingredients. Bake in pie- 
tins lined with paste. 

Lent Pies. Boil a dozen eggs quite hard, and chop the yolks very 
fine; chop a dozen medium-sized, juicy a]iples, peeled and cored, two 
pounds of stoned raisins; add two pounds of currants well washed 
and dried, one pound of sugar, a tablespoon ful of powdered cinna- 
mon, nutmeg, and mace; add the juice and grated peel of three 
lemons, with half a pound of citron cut into slips ; mix these 
thoroughly and moisten with a pint of boiled cider and a pint of 
water. 

A Good Dish for Tired People. Beat two or more eggs, the whites 
and yolks separately, add a little sugar, and if you wish, crumb 
crackers into the dish and- cat it. This will often agree with the 
stomach when it rejects other food ; it is easily assimilated, and can 
be taken without an ajipetite, and without hindering the organs of 
digestion. Excessive mental or bodily fatigue renders the stomach 
incapable for the time of performing its office, and this simple dish 
will recuperate the strength until the person is rested enough to eat 
heartily. 

Chicken Tea. Cut an old fowl into sniall pieces, bruise the hones 
and put the whole in a vessel, cover closely and set into a kettle of 
boiling water and boil three hours. Then strain the liquid, season it 
as may be agreeable to the taste of the patient. This makes a very 
strengthening drink for the sick. Repeat the process a second time, 
and nearly the same amount of liquor may be obtained the second 
lime as the first. 



APPENDIX. 553 



JELLIES AND rRESEKVES. 

Strawberry Jelly. Gather the birries when fairly ripe, criisli them, 
and press them through woolen or cotton. To a pint of juice a(Ul a 
pint of sugar, and boil rapidly in porcelain 0}; tin. If bciiled briskly 
it will jelly in from twenty to twenty rive niinute.s, sometimes in le.-s. 
Have the jelly glasses in hot water, that the liquid may be poured 
into them before it is set, and the jelly will be ]3ei-fectly transparent. 
It should not be strained or agitated after coming from the fire. 

Peach Jelly. Stone and pare the peaches, and fur every four pounds 
of peaches allow one of sour apples. Eoil separately in water enough 
to cover them until both are tender, and sti'ain through a jelly bag. 
For every quart of juice allow one and a half pounds of white sugar; 
boil over a sharp fire till it jellies when di'opped into cold water. The 
pulp may be boiled with half a pound of sugar to every pound of 
pulp till reduced enough to keep : it should be stirred constantly with 
a wooden spatula. For commou use this jam will answer very well. 

Oraiujp Marmalade. Remove from l)itter oranges the rind, without 
taking any of the white with it, boil till soft, then soak in cold water 
for a few minutes, drain and pound to a fine pnste ; for every jiound 
of this take a pound and a half of white granulated sugar, make a 
strong syrup of it, put in the paste, and boil the two together, st riing 
constantly till the marmalade is done ; when done it will draw out like 
a thread between the thumb and finger. Sweet oranges may bt.' u.scd 
in the same way. 

Graff. Pnserve. Have large, fully-ripe grapes; Avith the fiiig(>rs 
slip out the pulps and put the skins by themselves ; then .stew th« 
pulp till it is soft a' d readily separates from the seeds ; strain it 
through a coarse towel ; make a thick syrup, allowing a pound of 
sugar to a pound of grapes, and put your skins and strained pulp into 
the syrup ; cook thoroughly. 

S/iictd Wdd Grapes. To five pounds of grapes and four jjounds 
of sugar, add a pint of vinegar and two tablespoonfuls of cloves, 
cinnamon and allspice respectively. Boil slowly two hours. 

Uoiiie-Mude Cr<am Candy. To a coffee cup full of white sugar 
add two tablespoousful of water to dissolve it, aud boil without stir- 
ring, in a bright tin pan, until it will crisp in water like molasses 
candy. Just before it is done put in a teaspoonfiil of extract of 
vanilla, or lemon, or peppermint essence, and a quarter of a teaspoou- 
(ul of cream tartar. Wlicn done pour into a buttered pan, and when 
43 



654 APPENDIX. 

cool enonn:li to handle, work it as you would molnsses candy until it 
is |iorf«ctly wliite, tiion stivtcli and lay on a marlde slab or ino!diii}f 
board ; witli a cliopping knife cut into montlit'iils and lav it on to 
buttered j)nper on a plate. When children want candy, by all nieaus 
let them have that nia<(Je at home, and they will not eat phistcr of 
parls, chalk, starch, and poisonous compounds which derange tiieir 
stomachs, and ruLn their teeth. 

BEVERAGES. 

Unfermenled Wive. In the fall, when the grapes are ripe, select red 
grapes, and put them with white sugar, in a hard-burned jar in 
alternate layers, having the bottom layer of grapes, and tlic top one 
of sugar. Cover and let them stand two or three weeks in a cool 
place. Before the juice begins to work pour it off into a jiorcelain 
kettle, heat it, skim carefully, and when scalding hot put into bottles 
and seal tightly. It will be of a scarlet color, and will keep for years. 
It is good for use at the Communion Table, and also in sickness. 
After pouring off the first juice, if sugar and water are added to the 
residue, and it .stands for a week and is then poured ofT, an inferior 
wine will be produced. 

Bl(icl>)erry Wine. Into a vessel with a faucet, put ripe blackberries, 
and pour enough boiling water over them to cover them ; as soon as 
the* are cool enough, bruise the berries with the hand thoroughly, 
cover them, and in three or four days, when the berries rise to the top, 
draw off the clear liquid into another vessel. To every ten (piarts of 
liquor, add one pound of sugar, stir it well in, and let the mixture 
stand a week or ten days, to ferment, and then strain it through a 
jelly bag. For every gallon of the li(iuor take four ounces of isinglas.s, 
dissolve it in a pint of the liquor for twelve hours, boil it slowly till 
dissolved, then put it into the sweet wine, boil all together, let it stand a 
few days, and bottle. This is excellent in affections of the bowels. 

Cherry Bounce. Fill a jug with wild cherries, and cover them with 
French brandy till the coi'k is wet. Seal tightly, and in six months it 
will be ready for use. Pour off the licjuor, and keep it well corked. 
For a dose, mix a teaspoonful with two teaspoonfuls of water, and a 
little sugar, three times a day. This is an excellent cure for bowel 
complaint. 

Corn Beer. One qiuii't of dry Indian corn, one qunrt molasses, two 
large tablespoonfuls of })ure ginger, tied in a thin cloth, four gallons 
of soft cold water; put the whole in a stout keg or stone jug, not 



APPENDIX. 655 

fillinf^ quite full, cor]< tight, shake well, .and set in the cellar; fit for 
use in eight or ten days ; if desirous to have a bitter flavor, steep and 
strain a small handful of hops, and add the liquor to the otiier in- 
gredients; the corn ■will answer for a second hrewinj^ hy adding the 
other materials. 

PICKLES, SAUCES, SALADS, ETC. 

French Pickles. Take one large head of cabbage, six green peppers, 
six large onions, one-half peck of green tomatoes, chop all together 
till very fine ; put in two tablespoonfuls of black pepper, two of 
cloves, two of allspice, one of salt, h.ilf a pound of white mustard 
seed. Cover with vinegar and boil two hours. 

Pickles in Alcohol. Into a clean crock or tub pour one cpiart of alco- 
hol; to this add four quarts of soft water; cut from the vines 
small, firm cucumbers, cover with boiling water, let them stand till 
cool, then wash, rinse, and dr.iin them, put them into the mixtui'C, 
cover with a cloth, and put on a weight to keej) them under tlie liquor; 
leave them in a warm room, and as soon as tlie scum begins to rise 
take the cloth off every day and rinse it ; when through working, put 
into a cool place secure from dust. 

To Pickle Clams. Scald the clams in their own liquor, or in water 
with a little salt. Take them out with a skimmer and throw them 
into cold water. Take whole allspice, black pepper, and mace, and 
boil it up in the liquor in which the clams were boiled ; when it tastes 
enough of the spices take it off. Drain the clams on a sieve ; when 
the liquor is cold, add vinegar to taste, and then put in the clams. 

Commercial Pickles. To one gallon of cider vinegar add half a 
pound of salt, quarter of a pound of onions or garlic, quarter of a pound 
of ginger, two ounces of pepper, two of yellow mustard seed, and half 
an ounce of cayenne pepper ; boil all together. Into a jar that will 
hold eight quarts put a quarter of a pound of allspice, and pour on it 
the hot pickle. "When cold, put in freshly-gathered asparagus, cauli- 
flower, beans, currants, gooseberries, unripe apjjlcs, radish pods, nas- 
turtiums; and as the pickle wastes renew it with the sameprejjaration 
of vinegar and spice. This recipe was obtained from a house cele- 
brated for their pickles. 

Martynias. 1. Gather them when they arc rather small, and so 
tender that you can run the head of a pin into them. Wipe off the 
down and put them into a cold, weak brine. Keep them in brinCnine 
days, changing it every other day. Make a pickle of vinegar, allspice. 



550 APPENDIX. 

'■loves, mace, imtmrf^s, ami cinnamon. Take tlic mnrtynias out of 
the biiue ; wipe tlu-ni and lay them into a stone jar; pour the mix- 
ture of vinegar and spice, boiling hot, over them ; cover tlieni close, 
let them stand one month, ajid they will be fit for use. 5. Pick the 
jiods when soft enough to be penetrated by the thumb nail ; put them 
into brine strong- enough to bear an egg-; they will be ready for pick- 
ling in ten days. Take them from the brine, wash in cold water, and 
soak in vinegar two or three days. 'J'hen add one pound of sugar to 
one gallon of vinegar, with cloves, allspice, and other spices to taste ; 
tie the spices in a bag, and let them soak in the vinegar till their 
strength is extracted; heat the vinegar to the boiling point, pour it 
upon the martynias, which should ]n'eviously have been removed from 
the vinegar in which they were soaked. Ready for use in a few days. 

Fruit Pickle. For seven pounds of pears or peaches, not quite 
ripe, take four pounds of sugar and one pint of cider vinegar. Cook 
the fruit iu water enough to cover it. As soon as it is tender add the 
sugar, the vinegar, and au ounce each of whole cinnamon and cloves. 
Bring all to the boiling point and remove from the fire. This will keep 
the year round. 

Pickled Red Cahbaje. Cut up six cabbages, put them iu your jar, 
layers of cabbage aud salt alternating; let stand over night, then 
drain the cabbage, scald some spices iu the vinegar, and pour it over 
the cabbage boiling hot. To six common-sized cabbages allow two 
ounces each of cloves, cinnamon, aud allspice, and white mustard seed, 
if you like. 

To Pickle Walnuts. Gather the luUs before the inside shell is hard, 
which may be known by trying them with a pin ; lay them into 
s:ilt aud water nine days, changing the liquor every three diiys ; 
then take them out aud dry them in the air ou a sieve or mat ; 
they should not touch each other, and should be turned so that 
every side may become black alike ; then put them in a jar. When 
half the uuts are in, put in an onion with about thirty doves 
stuck into it, and add the rest of the nuts. To one hundred walnuts 
allow half a pint of mustard seed, one-quarter of an ounce of mace, 
one half an ounce of pepper-corns, and sixty bay-leaves ; boil all the 
spice in some good common vinegar, aud pour it boiling- hot upon 
the nuts, taking care to have them covered entirely; stop the 
mouth of the jar with a cloth, and when cold cover it with bladder 
or leather. In about six weeks they will be fit for use, whcu they 
should lie examined, and if thev have absorbed the vinegar so as to 



APPENDIX. 6o7 

leave any of the nuts dry, more should be added, but it need not be 
boiled. 

Lfttuce Salad. Rub the yolks of two hard-boiled egj^s to a powder, 
add one teaspoonful of white sugar, one of pepper, one-half tcaspoon- 
ful of salt, two of salad oil, one-half teaspoonful of mustard, and mix 
all well together. Then beat in four tal)lespoouful.s of vinegar. Cut 
up two or three heads of white lettuce and nn"x with the dressing. 

Chicken Salad. Boil a chieken, take the meat from the bones and 
chop pretty fine. Mix with it two large heads of celery or some let- 
tu- e, also chopped. Make a dressing of the yolks of five hard-boiled 
eggs, powdered, one and one-half tablespotmfuls dry mustard, one 
dessertspoonful salt, one-half bottle of oil, or one-half cup melted 
butter, one tablespoonful Worcestershire sauce, and vinegar enough 
to make it stir like cream. 

Top Dressing. Beat the yolks of one or two eggs with a fork for a 
few moments, then drop in a teaspoonful of oil slowly, stirring all th« 
time, add salt, then a teaspoonful of vinegar, and one half a teaspoon- 
ful of mustard. This dressing should be of the consistency of cream. 

Cold Slaw. Shred fine with a cabbage-cutter half a head of white 
cabbage and put it in a deep dish ; stir together the juice of a large 
lemon, or half a cup of cider vinegar, with two teas])Oonfuls of cold 
water, and mix it with the cabbage. Then sift evenly over it four 
tablespoon fuls of granulated sugar. Let it stand half an hour before 
serving. 

Tumato Catsup. Peel and stew the tomatoes, strain them through 
a sieve or fine colander, and to each gallon thus prepared, add three 
heajjing tablespooufuls of salt, three uf ground mustard, lialf a dozen 
pods of red pejiper, aiuT a quart of vinegar; stew slowly till it is re- 
duced one-third ; bottle tightly. 

Mus/iroom Calsnp. Put in an earthen vessel layers of mushrooms 
and thin layers of salt and allow them to stand half a day, or until 
the salt has penetrated them somewhat. Then nuish them and keep 
them standing another whole day, frequently stirring them uj) from 
the bottom. To each gallon of mushrooms add an ounce of pepper- 
corus, an ounce of cloves, and one of allspice. Set the jar -in cild 
water and let it come to a boiling heat. Simmer gently for two hours 
then strain, and reduce by boi'.ing to ouc-half, skimming carefully 
When it has settled, strain it into small liottles for use, adding a tea 
spoonful of brandy to each bottle, and seal. Kcej) in a dry place. 

Walnut Catsuj). Take a peck of green walnut .shells, put them in 



558 APPENDIX. 

a tub, bruise and mash them, anrl throw on two pounds of snlt, with 
water enough to cover tlicni. Let ili('ni stand six days, masiiin.if and 
mixing them till they become soft and pnlpy. Drain ont tlie juice by 
jetting the tub stand on one side a little, with the shells in tlie elevated 
part. As often as it needs, turn out tiie liijnor and continue; to do so 
as long as there is any ; there will be five or six (juarts. Then boil it 
in iron as long as scum I'ises; then aild a quarter of a jjound of jiinger 
and allspice, two ounces of pejiper and cloves, and let it boil slowly 
for half an hour. The spices should be powdered, and ati eijiial quan- 
tity of tliem should go into cacli bottle. Cork and set away in a cool, 
dry place one year before it is used. 

Sauce ^lollanda'se. Put a i)iece of butter the size of a pigeon's egg 
into a saucepan, and when it bubbles, stir in wiili an egg whisk an 
even tablcspoonful of flour; let it continue to bulible until the flour is 
thoroughly cooked, then stir in half a pint of Ijoiling water, or, better, 
of veal stock ; when it boils take it from the fire and stir into it grad- 
ually the beaten yolks of four eggs ; return the sauce to the; fire for a 
mii.ute to set the eggs, without allowing it to boil ; again remove the 
sauce, stir in the juice of half a small lemon, and fresh butter tJie size 
of a walnut, cut into small pieces to facilitate its melting, and stir 
well with the whisk. 

Spanish Sauce. Take four ounces of onions, slice them thin, and fry 
them brown in a saucejjan with two ounces of marrow, su(;t, or liccf- 
drijipings. Wlien brown, add one and a-half pounds of any kind of 
beef cut in pieces, an ounce of parsley, the same of celery, five ounces 
sliced carrot, a teaspoonful of powdered thyme, or half a bunch, and 
one leek. Lay the beef on the onions, and the other ingredients on 
top of the beef; cover tightly, and let it stay on one side of the fire 
half an hour. This will draw ,out the juices of the beef. Then .'•tir 
in three ounces of dry flour, tlien ])our over three pints of cold wat<T; 
biing it slowly>to a boil, and boil tliree hours. Strain, and serve with 
chicken and potato croquettes. This recipe is from the New York 
Cooking School. 

Mai/onnaise Sauce. Beat well the yolks of two raw eggs, add one 
teaspoonful of salt, one scant teaspoonful of mixed mustard, one-h-.lf 
pint of sweet oil, drop by drop, lieating constantly. Put the vinegar 
in last, five or more tablespoon fuls, according to taste. A little lemon 
juice added before the vinegar improves it. Beat all well togetluT, 
and it is ready for use It is excellent for lobster or chicken salad, or 
to pour over cold chopped veal, adding lettuce or celery, if desired. 



APPENDIX. /"SD 

Gravy. Mince au onion finely, fry it in butter to a dark brown, 
then add three-quarters of a pint of good stock, pepper and salt to 
taste, a small piece of ham minced finely, a sprig of thyme, one of 
parsley, and a little Worcestershire sauce ; let the whole boil five or 
ten minutes, put it by till wanted, then strain it into a sauce hont. 

Ilorse-nidtsh Sauce. To a coffee cup of grated horse radish add 
two tabiespoonfuls of cream, a teaspoonful cacli of made mustard 
and salt; a half cup of the best vinegar, and mix tlic; whole tlior- 
oiighly. For the spring of the year this is a very fine sauce. 

Note. — It is said that a teaspoonful of horse radisli grated, mixed 
with a wine glass of cider, and taken three times a day, will cure 
parah'sis in its earlier stages. The remedy is iiarmless, siiould it 
prove ineffective. 

Rlnibarb Vuipgar. Crusli with a pestle thirty six stalks of rhubarb, 
of the usual size, in a strong keg ; add fifteen gallons of soft water ; 
let it stand a day; strain and add twenty seven pounds of brown 
sugar and a pint of brewer's yeast, let it stand a month where the 
temperature will not fall below 60° ; strain, and let it stand until it 
becomes vinegar. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Rag Carpets. For one yard, half a pound cotton twine, and one 
and a half pounds of prepared rags arc requisite. Twine made of 
hemp or jute; will not wear well. Common wrapping twine of good 
size makes a good warp, or if a fine one is de^sircd, tid}' yarn. Better 
still is a yarn sometimes made at factories of twenty or more threads 
of 'fine warp, twisted into one round, strong and flexible cord. Any 
one of these is prel'('ral)le to that commonly made for the jjurpose. 

Rufj-i. Th(^sc sliould be of good material, eitlier pieces of new cloth 
or the better jjortions of worn-out garments. Headings from woolen 
factories make good rags at a trifling cost. Fine soft cloth is prefer- 
able, but cottons and soft woolens an.swer a good ])ur])ose. The rags 
should be cut of uniform size, and when twisted tightly with the 
fingers should be four times the size of the warj) twine. This will re- 
quire the thin rags to be cut wider than the thick. They should be cut 
previous to dyeing, for if of a loose texture they will become rough 
by raveling, and will tangle and waste. Sewing them together should 
be avoideil. Whatever the size or shape of a ])ieee, cut it in a con- 
tinuous Irngth ; the angles made by this methoil can he clipped or 
rounded, and are less ol)j,>ctioiial)le ihau the irregularities by lai.piug 



660 APPENDIX. 

ami sewing. When this is neccssjxn' hvp them one-ioiirth of an inch, 
anil take tv\o or three stitches in the niiddle throuf^h tiieni both. 
Wind tliem liglitly into a ball, each color l)y itself. 

Dyriiig. New cotton goods, cither twine or rags, should lie boiled \n 
water three or four hours previous to dyeing, to expel all the air Croni 
the minute cells oC the cotton. All goods should be perfectly clean. 
The warp dyed half one color, and half another, and stri])ed an inch 
wide, has a pretty effect. It is better to divide the rags for ilyeing 
into three or four parts, giving one the deepest and brightest color by 
dipping it first into the dye and afterward introducing, one after 
another, the other portions, thus securing several shades of the .same 
color for blending. All goods dijed with spirits of aiiif kind, or acids, 
should be well washed hffoie they are dried. Plenty of dye, allowing tlie 
goods to float freely in it, is a good security against spotting. Having 
them wet before being dipped in the dye also promotes evenne.-s of 
color. 

Arrangement of Co'ors. Nature abounds in lessons on tliis. With 
her, harmony is the nile, contrast the e.\ce])tiou. Her browns and 
greens are miniHed in endless variet}', forming a sombre but ])leasiiig 
ground, which is studded with bright blos.soms of manifold tints. 
Even her ever-recurring shadows give form and beauty to every ob- 
ject. The surpassing loveliness of the rainbow is enhanced l)y the 
dark and heavy drab of the clouds in its background. Heeding her 
teaching, we make two-thirds of our carpet grouud color, seeking to 
combine the tints of our fancy stripe in a quiet and uaosteut itio s 
manner, avoiding harshness or abruptness, and securing an even an<l 
kindly effect. A bright and sunny room requires subdued colors in a 
carpet — grays, browns, greens, and buffs — while one on the shady side 
of the house should rejoice in more brilliant tints — reds, greens, blin's, 
yellows, oranges, and wines. A veiy ])retty carpet has a ground of 
wine color in a stripe six inches wide; the fancy stripe is i'om])o.sed of 
two threads dark red, two cochineal, two liglit red, one orange or l>uft', 
two yellow, two light green, two dark green, two dark blue, two liglit 
blue, two dark ruby, two light ruby, a stripe of the ground color an 
inch wide, and the stripe repeated. 

Red on Wool with Lac. Four ounc(!S of lac to one ])ouiid of wool. 
Steep the lac twenty-four hours in strong hydrochloric acid, stirring it 
from time to time ; add sufficient water to cover the ;:oods, enter them 
and let them remain thivse-qitarters of an hour, handling tlK.ni neatly 
and rapidly ; wash in clear hot water thoroughly. 



APPENDIX. 561 

To Color Cotton Yellow. For every three pounds ©f cottxju, take six 
ounces sugar of lead dissolved in hot water in a vessel of brass or tin. 
In a wooden vessel dissolve three ounces of bichromate of potassa in 
cold water. Dip the goods first in one vessel, and then in the oilui-. 
until the color suits. For orange, dip the cotton in strong liu.*^ 
water. 

To Dye Snarlet. For one pound of yarn use one of cochineal, one 
of cream tartar, and two ounces solution of tin. Warm the water, 
stir in tlic cream tartar, grind the cochineal fine, put it in tiie water 
and stir it well. Add the solution of* tin, then let it come to a scald- 
ing heat Wash tlie goods thoroughly in soapsuds, and rinse in clear 
soft water before putting them into tlie dye. Let them scald t\vo or 
three hours, stirring occasionally as in all dyeing. KemoNe fronj the 
dye and rin.se in clear water. 

To Di/e Wool Yellow. Boil it for an hour with about onesixtli of 
its weight of alum ; then plunge it in water containing as much 
quercitron bark as equals the weight of alum used. Keep tvirniag it 
in tlie water till the color grows as deep as you wish. This will be 
increased by stirring in of clean jwwdered chalk, a quantity equal to 
the hundredth part of the weight of the cloth, and boiling eight or 
ten minutes longer. If a very bright golden yellow is desired, use 
oxide of tin instead of alum. For a greenish yellow, add a little 
cream tartar, and for orange a little cochineal. 

T« Dge Red. Purchase twenty-five cents' worth of rose aniline, 
put it into a thin muslin bag and then into a tin vessel, pour a quart 
of boiling water on it, let it stand several hours, or overnight, when it 
will be pretty Avell dissolved. Pour the dye into the shallow vessel above 
named, which should be of tin, brass, or wood, not of iron, adding a 
tablespoonful of muriate of tin. Let the goods remain in the <b-c 
from ten to fifteen minutes, according to shade de.sired. 

To Dye Sea-green. One ounce blue vitriol, one half ounce alum; 
dissolve each separately in earthen vessels in hot water; dip the goods 
in the alum water, drain and put them in the vitriol water ; dry and 
wash in saleratus water. This will color a pound of rags, and makes 
a very pretty ground-work for rugs. 

To Dge Copperas Color. One ounce of copperas, ontj-half ounce of 
fialeratus dissolved in hot water; dip the good.s first in the copperas 
water, then in saleratus, and dry, when they will be ready for use. 

Chenille Rugs. Take Avoolen, silk, and cotton bits in bright colors 
and neutral tints, cut them an inch or an inch and a half square, take 



5G2 APPENDIX, 

a coaise needle and strong carpet thread or linen twine, donble in 
long needlefuls, and string tlicse bits of rags. When the string is full, 
trim off the ragged edges, so as to make the roll as round as possible. 
When there is enough strung, take a piece of tajjestry or Brussels 
carpeting for a center, and sew on the (due a strip of chenille, then 
on that another strip, and so on, as in braided mats. Children will 
make these strings as pastime if they have a little encouragement and 
instruction. 

To Knit Gloves. Procure Germantown yarn ; one skein of medium- 
sized yarn will knit a pair of gloves. Cast on eighteen stitches on a 
needle; widen the thumb two stitches every third and fourth time, 
knitting round alternately. When the thumb has been widened to 
twenty-foitr stitches take them off on a double thread or small cord. 
Cast on to join the gap about ten stitches, which decrease graduall}- 
as you knit around to six, having but sixty in all for the hand. 
Knit about half an inch, then drop off sixteen at the right place for 
the little finger; cast on six new ones to join the gap; knit three or 
four times around, then drop the new-made stitches and si.x on each 
side of them for tlie ne.xt finger; cast on four new stitches, knit three 
or four times around, and drop the same number as before for the next 
finger; cast on four new stitches, and you find yourself knitting on 
the forefinger, which must be decreased to twenty-two stitches, after 
finishing the index finger ; take up the next in order, observing the uni- 
form number of stitches on each, twenty-two ; but the thumb must 
have twenty-four. In knitting the fingers knit the first round plain ; 
in the second and all alternate rounds slip and bind at the beginning, 
and knit two stitches together at the end of the stitches you have 
looped on until you have narrowed them all off, thus making a three- 
cornered gusset, then knit plain till your finger is of the required 
length. When all the fingers are done there will be a diamond-shaped 
gusset between each two fingers. A similar gusset should be knit be- 
tween the hand and thumb. 

To Cio-het a Breakfast Shawl. Jlake a cliain corresponding in 
length to the desired length of the shawl around the neck. Crochet 
a, row of doul^le stitch on this chain, putting a stitch in each loop of 
the chain. Between the first and second stitches of this row attacli 
three double stitches; between the fourth and fifth, three; between 
the seventh and eighth, three. Continue in the same manner till the 
middle of the chain is reached, where six stitches should be made. 
'ri;e last half of the row is to be crocheted like the first half The work 



APPENDIX. 563 

will now appear divided into clusters of three stitches each. For the 
next row crochet three stitches between the first and second stitches of 
the first cluster, three after it and every succeeding cluster, six be- 
tween the two clusters that mark the middle, and three between the 
last two stitches of the last cluster. Each remaining row to be worked 
in the same manner, taking care always to work one cluster between 
the two stitches at each end of the row, and two clusters exactly in 
the middle. Widened in this way, the bottom of the shawl will de- 
scribe the two equal sides of a right-angled triangle. 

To Make Mats from Sheepskins. Take a fi'esh skin and wash the 
wool in strong soap-suds only slightly warm to the hand. Pick out all 
the dirt from the wool and scrub it well on the wash-board. A table- 
spoonful of kerosene added to three gallons of warm soap-suds will 
greatly help the cleansing process. Wash in another suds, or until 
the wool looks white and clean. Then put the skin into cold water 
enough to cover it, and dissolve half a pound of salt and the same 
quantity of alum in three pints of boiling water; pour the mixture 
over the skin, and rinse it up and down in the water. Let it soak in 
this water twelve hours, then hang it over a fence or a line to drain. 
When nearly dry, nail it, wool side in, on a board, or the side of a 
barn, to dry. Rub into the skin an ounce each of pulverized alum and 
saltpeter, and if the skin is large, double the quantity. Rub for an 
hour or two. Fold the skin sides together, and hang the mat away 
for three days, rubbing it every day, or till perfectly diy. Then with 
a blunt knife clear the skin of impurities, rub it with pumice or rotten 
stone; trim it into shape, and you have a door-mat which will last a 
lifetime. 

Removing Dry Ink Stains. A solution of ox;ilic acid crystals one 
part, by measure, to eight of soft water, will entirely remove dry ink 
stains. Samples of mixed and of woolen goods are sent by the author 
of this recipe from which ink stains have lieen removed by this acid, 
leaving scarce a trace behind. The goods should be thoroughly rinsed 
after using the acid on them. 

To Clean Silk. Mix a quarter of a pound of soft soap, a teaspoou- 
ful of brandy, and a pint of gin well together and strain through 
cloth. With a sponge or flannel spread the mixture on each side 
the silk without creasing it ; wash it in two or three waters ; while 
damp, iron on the wrong side. This process will restore silks to their 
newness and will not injure tiie most delicate color. 

To Renova'e Wall Paper. Dip a woolen ddth in dry corn nual and 



664 APPENDIX. 

rub the wall paper with it; tliis will remove the dust and smoke. 
Pieces of stale bread have the same effect. 

To Make Black Ink. Beat fine four ounces of gall nuts, and ])iit 
them in a quart of warm soft water. Let them soak eight or nine 
days in the suu or by the fire, shaking often. Then add two ounces 
of copperas, one ounce of gum arabie dissolved in warm water, a:id 
a half ounce of pulverized alum. In two or three days the ink vi-i'.l 
be fit for use. 

Cement for Broken China. Dissolve gum arable in water, making a 
thick solution ; stir in plaster-of-jiaris till the mixture becomes a sti( ky 
paste. Apply with a brush to the broken edges and lay away for two 
or three days. 

For Lockjaw. It is said that if a poultice of pounded peach-loaves 
is placed upon a wound so soon as it is received, lockjaw need not 
be feared. 

The Good Samaritan Liniment. Take of r.lcohol two quarts, and 
add to it the following articles: Oils of sassafras, hemlock, spirits of 
turpentine, tincture of cayenne, catechu, guiac, and laudanum, each 
one ounce; tincture of myrrh, four ounces; oil of origanum, two 
ounces ; oil of wintergreen, half an ounce ; gum camphor, two ounces ; 
chloroform, one ounce and a half, ilix all together and apjdy as an 
external remedy for all kinds of pains and corns. 

Eye- Watfr. One tablespoonful each of table-salt and white vitriol, 
dissolved in half a pint of soft water ; add a tablespoonful of white 
sugar and blue vitriol the size of a connnon pea ; wash the eyes with 
this three or four times daily. If they shed much water, dissolve a 
little oxide of zinc in a vial of water, and use it freely on them. 

For Wounds. The aching and stiffness caused by wounds can be 
almost entirely relieved by holding the wound over burning sugar. 
One of our correspondents, who gave us tliis information, punctured 
his right leg with a large awl, and the limb became, in consequence, 
Very painful and stiff, so that he walked with great difficulty. A 
tablespoonful oi sugar poured on some live coals in a shovel and held 
under the wound so relieved him that the day after he could walk as 
well as ever. 

To Cleanse Carpets. Carpets, Avhen washed, should first be taken 
up, thoroughly aired, sunned, and beaten ; then tacked again securely 
in place. Ox-gall or ammonia may be used in scrubbing thorn. A pint 
of ox gall K) four gallons of water arc the proportions to be used. If 
ammonia \.i cnijtloyed, two tablespoonfuls to a gallon will be about light 



APPEXDIX. 5G5 

The water in which the carpet is washed should he frequently clianired. 
When carpets cannot lie taken up and sliaken, tliey in;iy, after being 
well swept, be quite thoroiipldy clennsed by being frequently wiped 
with a cloth wrung from clean water. 'Jhis is a good way to clean 
carpets in the rooms of invalids and those who cannot bear the dis- 
turbance of dust and change. 

Comforters. Use bleached cotton flannel; fill with cotton in the 
usual way, and quilt the cotton down before the upper side is put on. 
Then fasten on the upper cover with tufts of blue Berlin wool, and 
bind with blue cotton tape. For winter dress of spare bed use a soft 
flannel blanket over the cotton sheet, then this coverlid and the usual 
white or pink counterpane ; the touch is light and soft, and it keeps 
one perfectly warm in a tireless room. 

Brilliant Whitewash. Take one-half bushel of nice unslaked lime, 
slake it with boiling water ; cover it during the process to keep in the 
steam. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve or strainer, and add to 
it a peck of salt, previously well dissolved in warm water, three 
pounds of ground rice, boiled to a thin paste, onc-lialf pound of 
powdered Spanish whiting, and one pound of clean glue, which has 
been previously dissolved by soaking it well, and then hang it over a 
slow fire in a small kettle within a larger one filled with water. Add 
five gallons of hot water to the mixture, stir it well and let it stand for 
a few days, covered from dust. It should be put on hot, and for this 
purpose it can be kept in a kettle on a portable furnace. It is said 
that about a pint of this mixture will cover a square yard on the out- 
side of a house if properly applied. Fine or coarse brushes may be 
used according to the neatness of the job required. It answers as well 
as oil paint for wood, brick, or stone, and is cheaper. It retains jts 
brilliancy for many years. There is nothing that will compare with it, 
cither for inside or outside walls. Buildings or fences covered with it 
will take a much longer time to burn than if they are painted with oil 
paint. Coloring matter may be put in, and made of any shade de- 
sired. Spanish brown will make a reddish pink when stirred in, more 
or less deep, according to the quantity. A delicate tinge of this is 
very pretty for inside walls. Finely ]Hilverized common clay well 
mixed with Spanish brown, makes a reddish stone color ; yellow ochre 
stirred in makes yellow wash, but chrome goes further, and makes a. 
color generally esteemed prettier. It is difficult to make rules, because 
tastes are different ; it would be best to try c.Kperiments on a shingle 
and let it dry. Green must not bo mixed witli linio ; it destroys the 



5G6 APPENDIX. 

color, and the color has an effect on tli:' -whitewiisli Avhich malies it 
crack and peel. 

To Cleanse Plush Fiiiiii!nre. Flnsh- and rp)->s covered furniture 
should he taken outdoors in the bri;:;ht sunshine twice a year, and 
thoroughly whipped with switches until all the dust is out. If ])Ossi- 
blc, it should he taken ajjart, anil if while the stuffed ])ortion is being 
sunned, the wood part receives a coat of varnish, there need he no fear 
of moths. 

For Mahinrj Cloth Water proof. In ten gallons of water dissolve 
two pounds and four ounces of alum. Dissolve the same quantity 
of sugar of lead in the same quantity of water, then mix the two 
together. Pour off the clear liquor, immerse the cloth in it for an 
hour, take it out, dry it in the shade, wash in clear water, and dry 
again. 

Cold Soap. Twenty-two jwunds of jiotash, twenty jjounds of 
grease, and three-fourths of a jjound of rosin. This quantity will 
make a barrel of soap. Keep the grease tried out and str.iined so as 
to he ready for use when the requisite (luantity is gaiueil. Select the 
gray looking potash, put it into the soaj) barrel, jiour on it hot soft 
v/ater to facilitate dissolving; when softened ])ut in the grease, reserv- 
ing two or three pounds to melt the rosin in ; keep adding hut water 
till it stirs readily, and when nearly to the toj) y,i\t in the melted rosin 
and fat. This soap is good and strong, will keep any leugtli of time, 
and be free from insects. When warned lor use dip out a quantity 
and add a third of soft water to it. The dark ])otash is apt to stain 
the clothes in washing. 

To Wash Lace Curtains. Lace curtains are washed like other laces, 
starched with thin starch or gum-aralnc water, and carefully jnnned 
over a mattress with a sheet over it imtil they are dry. Those who 
make a business of doing up lace curtains, have a fixture resembling 
a quilt in quilting-frames, on which the curtains are carefully laid and 
pinned in shape to dry. 



INDEX. 



America, why thi best country for 

the poor, 

Animal heat of cliildren, 

Acidity in stomachs of children, to 

prevent, 

Airin? of rui^s and carpeting, 

Airing of beds, 

A hop pillow, 

A healinii; salve for sores, 

Albumen, elements of. 

America, a wheat-tirowin^ country. 

Animal substance, elements of 

Apples, why eateu at dinner 

Apple preserve, 

Apple-" to keep, ' 

Arrowroot, composition of and 

value a'< food, 

Ash of plants used as food, com- 
pared with ash of blood, 

Assortment of medicines for fami- 
ly use, 

A winter sitting-room, 

Baby's basket, to make 

" shirt, rule for knitting. ... 
Bacon and beans, why eaten to- 
gether 

Bad economy of buying poor cloth. 

Bathing of infants," 

Bathing when fatigued, 

Baker's bread, 

" compared wiih home made. 

Beans, how to cook*. 

B^;ans and peas, why not suited to 

brain toil 

Beds, of what made, 

Bed springs 

Beds most suitable for sleeping on, 
Beds, comfortable, recommended.. 
Beef, various parts of 

" roasting pieces, 

" to cook in a Dutch oven 

" choice cuts of 

" to preserve 

" tenderloin 

" must be cut thick, 

" tea, recipe for 

" good, characteristics of 

" a la mode 

" stew 

Bee keeping in this country 

" " general diroofions,. . 
" " its profitableness, 



Bees in winter 230 

Bees, increase and profit of. 442 

Best white sugar the cheapest, 48 

Beverages, 261 

Bile, derangements of produced by 

fatty diet, 37 

Blue, deep, to color with, 317 

Blood, composition of and relation 

to food, 23 

Bolting and grinding, how wheat is 

afl'ecled by 34 

Bolster 480 

Books in the homo 4(i7 

Bottles should be labeled, 381 

Boys, training of 4G0 

Boston brown bread, 1(J9 

Brackets for side of a room, 427 

'• how to make 424 

Bread, hot, why injurious 170 

Bread, hot corn, why not injurious, 170 

Bread making 157 

" '• full directions 163 

" " chemically considered, 160 
" of various cereal grains, val- 
ue for food, 78 

Breakfast dishes,. 89 

" winter, analyzed 5*1 

" corn cakes,. 171 

" a good one described, ... Sj 

" requirements, S.") 

Broken limbs, 37.5 

Burns and scalds 37fi 

Buttermilk, its uses, 21.5 

Butter making 211 

" how worked, 213 

'• how to salt and mould 214 

Butternut dye 316 

Butternut frame 418 

Buvimr of flannel, tinm for 981 

Cake eatinar, proper time for 218 

'' pan, form of. 9-39 

" general directions for making 2'?7 
Cakes, desserts, and delicacies, .... 2-'W 

Cane, susrar, composition of, 47 

" " sweeter than c-rape,.. 48 

" " effect of air on 47 

Care of clothing 306 

Carbon in food, table of. 61 

Chambers, Dr., on flesh diet 161 

Cherries, Drcscrvod 183 

Chemical knowledge necessary for 
the housewife.. 5S 



508 



INDEX. 



Choap carpetiu":, 403 

•• beds,.. " 4(« 

" paint lor lonccf , 498 

Cliickeus and bees, cuse of cariug 

lor, 440 I 

Chickens, young, directions for,. .. 221 

to broil, 121 ; 

Children, efl'ect of feeding on 1 

stiirchy food, ' 32 

Children's food, 249 

Chilblain?, 5U4 

Chocolate 273 

" how to make, 274 

Chloride of lime to preserve meat, 129 

Clothing in general 277 

" suitable for traveling, .. . 307 

Codfish, boiled, 138 

" salt, to cook, 137 

Coflee, a tropical beverage, 270 

" to make, 209 

" pots 268 

" to roast 207 

" choice of, 206 

" Mocha and Java compared, 265 

" Rio, 263 

" Java, 203 

" plant, description of, 262 

" and tea, what Licbig thinks 

of them 272 

" in wet and cold weather,. . . 87 
" should be drank in the 

morning, 87 

Colds, treatment of, 364 

Colic in infants, treatment of. 330 

Comparative strength of man and 

woman, 3.52 

Comparative wages of men and 

women , 43(! 

Complementary food required 58 

Congestion of ihe lungs, treatment 

of. 332 

Constituents of perfect food, 251 

Convulsions in children, 388 

Cora-starch, composition and value 

as food, 31 

Com batter bread, 171 

Coal as fuel 491 

Cost nf home-made and ready-made 

clothing compared 283 

Cotton, as a covering for the body, 279 

t'ouL'h syrup, recipe for, ". . 372 

Covering of beds 487 

" the feet 312 

Cows, and the butter-making w^o- 

man's work, 208 

Cows, projicr care of, 210 

Crab apples. 182 

("'-.•irkod wheat, 154 

Cream cheese, 215 

Croup and its treatment, 307 

Crving in infants. 390 

encumbers, to pickle 185 

to salt down, 180 

" .sweet pickle, ISC 



Currant jelly I83 

Cuts and uimncis, ;i';5 

Danger of over-leeding very young 

babies. ;j]9 

Daughters, how trained to work,. . 4,58 

Decoration of rooms, 411 

Design of corner bracket 426 

" " card receiver, 419 

" " a cross, 420 

" " basket of flowers, 421 

" No. 1 of bracket, 412 

" of vase 415 

" " picture frame,. .. 417 

Desserts, reasons for 94 

Diarrhoea and dysenterv, treatment 

of, ". 361 

Diarrhoea syrup, recipe for 302 

Diet of children, rules for 252 

'• during long exposure to cold, 41 
" influence of over muscular 

liber. 101 

" adjnstedtoclimatc and season, 84 

Digestion in stomach 18 

" in intestines ... 24 

Directions for making rugs 311 

Disinfecting fluids, and Low to use 

them .m3 

Dinner in summer 95 

bill of fare 92 

Division of foods into heat-produ- 

chig and tissue making, 26 

Domestic remedies, 359 

" architecture and orna- 
mentation 389 

" surgery,... 374 

Domain of the housekeeper, 495 

Draining 109 

Drain and cesspool for a garden,... 194 
Drudgery, too much done by our 

women £08 

Dress of babies 324 

Drowning, v hat to do in case of, . . .'87 

Ear-ache, remedy for, 374 

Economy of fuel 406 

Economies of dress. 304 

Economy of hiring help. 284 

Effect of a dose room on children, 344 

Eggs, value of as food, 70 

how they should be cooked, 76 

" how to preserve, 129 

Esg bread 171 

'• plant 152 

" producing, possibilities of. .. . 441 

" nog, to make, 2.58 

" brandy, to make 257 

Embroideries for pin-money, 447 

Etiquette at dinner parties, 473 

Family covernment, 406 

FatteninL' cflec ts of sugar, 45 

Fat of s.Tlt pork and bacon 41 

Felt for soles 809 

Feast, requisites of. 95 

Fermentation in bread, how in- 
duced, 1(52 



INDEX. 



>G9 



Fcrmontation!?, the three, 105 

Fcrtiliziu;;inattei-, how besteaved, 11)3 

Fish, and its prepaiaiious, 131 

" half way between vegetables 

and flesh 131 

" peculiarity of, absence of 

blood, 131 

" as a diet, 132 

" fi-esli water, how to fry, .... 131 

" how to choose, 133 

" how to clean, 133 

" to take, i:3o 

" to fry large, 136 

First law of a child's growtli, 24!) 

Flax seed tea, to make, 257 

Flesh diet, superiority of, 101 

" " economical 103 

" " alone implies barbar- 
ism W 

" " stimulating for two rea- 
sons, 80 

" of different animals as food, 78 
'^ diet easily produced in 

America, 103 

Fiber, elements of in animals, 141 

Fibrine, elements of 113 

Flour, which is best, 34 

" to judge of, 11)0 

Food, variety of, why required,... 19 

" complementary table of, 65 

" most perfect kind of, 67 

" table showing digestion of 

different kinds, 62 

" howsoonitbeginstonourish, 22 
" divided into three groups,.. 27 
" required by the city man, ... 51 
" in winter, eaten for two pur- 
poses, 90 

" difference in time of diges- 
tion 22 

" meets two great demands,.. 18 

" of old people 258 

" of convalescents, 258 

" for babes 323 

" for the sick and aged, 254 

For convulsions in children, 503 

For the sting of a nettle, 503 

For sprains and bruises in horses,. 505 

For a carbuncle 383 

For a thorn or splinter, 382 

For nursing sore mouth or sore 

mouth in infants, 504 

Fowl, to roast, 121 

Frost bites, treatment of, 386 

Fruits, constituents of, 141 

" and vegetables, distinction 

between, 141 

Fruit for children, 2,52 

Fruit-growing for women, 412 

Furniture polish 479 

Gapes in chickens, how to prevent, 223 
Garden, its thorough culture de- 
scribed 399 

how tn lav out, 200 



Garden, plan of, with cut and de- 
scription i:)2 

Gardening not unsuitable for 

women, 102 

Gastronomy, proper meaning of 

the word 83 

Gelatine, elements of, 143 

Gentleman's dressing-gown, to 

make, 291 

Gentlemen's coats, to make, 290 

Ginger beer, to make 275 

Goo'd baking, importance of, 243 

Oraham's views on bread, 167 

Graham bread, to make 163 

Grains, cereal as vegetables, 1.53 

CJrapcs, their preservation, 177 

Grape and cane sugar, difference 

between 46 

" sugar, composition of, 47 

" " effects of air on, 47 

'• culture for woman, 443 

Graining rooms 409 

Gruel, recipe for making 255 

Ilarrictte llosmer, relefoncc to,... 318 

Hams, rules for preserving, 125 

Headache, treatment of, S72 

Heat-producing food, 26 

Hen's eggs, 506 

Hominy 154 

Hot-air furnace 492 

IIow children may adorn home 463 

How children may be taught house- 
work, 463 

How to draw a house-plan, 390 

House-cleaning, . 480 

Infancy, 318 

Infant's w ardrobe, 336 

Ink pow-der, 502 

Intervals between children's meals, 250 
Intimacy between parents and 

children, 465 

Intoxication, antidote for, 380 

Irish, physical development of as a 

nation, 55 

" food of, 56 

" why so fully developed in the 

osseous system, 56 

Irishmen, average weight of, 55 

Iron, food containing it, 52 

" in the system, 52 

Ironing 479 

Jam, blackberry, 183 

" raspberry, 183 

Jellies, nutritive qualities of, 49 

Jelly, blackberry, 183 

grape, 184 

" raspberry, 184 

Johnston, Prof., on the formation 
of Ire kind, and the food of Irishmen , .57 

Johnny cake, 171 

Keeping up repairs 495 

ICitcnen. planning of, 891 

Knowledge necessary in house- 
keeper, 24 



570 



INDKX. 



Late Piippers", why Injurious 248 

Lilo of luaii couiparud to a lamp, . . IT 

Lime required in lood, 5;j 

supplied by water. : . . 5(i 

" required ill the system M\ 

Linen as a coveriiif,' of tlie l)ody,.. 2';! 
Liniment for sprains and bruises,. ySJ 

'■ for weak back, 3.S'i 

Liquid blacking 502 

Loomis oil chemical constituents 

of food, 1-13 

Loomis on chemical constituents 

of blood 14.3 

Lo-s of teeth in old age 2ii0 

Love, the corner-stone of home. . . . 461 
Macaroni and cheese, why eaten 

tojrcthcr 58 

Mackerel, salt, ~to cook, 1.37 

Mangoes 187 

Mattresses, 4S4 

Maxims, four, for the housewife,. . 45!) 

Mead, to make 275 

Meats, selection, preservation, and 

cooking of, 101 

" preservation of, 122 

composition of, IKi 

Mental activity to be avoided before 

slL'cping .357 

Milk punch, to make, 25S 

Milk, woman's and cow's com- 
pared, 322 

" how it should be eaten, 74 

' ' how to preserve 130 

" yeast bread, to make, 104 

" proper care of, 211 

" time for skimming 211 

" its constituents "and value 

for food, 73 

" how to keep sweet, 215 

Missouri corn cakes, 172 

Morgan's method of preserving 

meat 123 

Mountain trout, how to prepare, . . 1.33 

Mortification, 504 

Mutton and its cookery, 116 

" common objections to, how 

removed 117 

" how it should be butchered, 117 

" best parts of, 118 

Mutton chops broiled, 119 

" fried, 110 

" leg, how to prepare, 120 

'• boiled 120 

" roasted, 120 

" to preserve, 127 

Navy bread, 158 

Necessity of exercise in the open 

air .352 

Nitrogen must be found in the food 

_ of poultry. 220 

" its proporiicn to carb u 

in ^ood wl'.ent Hour 34 

" chief element in tissne- 

malving food 27 



I Nitrogen in food, table of, 

Nitrogenous foods menliouv.d, .... 
Nutrilive power of diiiercnt kinds 

of food, . 

Nurse, a iierfect, 

Oatmeal, 

for food 

" to ])reserve meat 

Oil, not required in corn bread, . . 

" use of in animal economy, 

" in milk, pattern for cooks, .... 

" as an clement of food 

" amount of in substances used 

as food, 

" office of in the system, 

" its elfect (;n bile 

" when demandeti in the system, 

" in the stomach, hurtful 

" should be carefully mixed with 

ot'iicr substances, 

" in com and wheat 

Oils, manner of combination afl'ect- 

in<j digestion 

" fixed and volatile, 

" chemical composition of, 

" comparative digestibility of,.. 

Oily diet, effects of, 

" food, a prominent cause of 

dyspepsia 

" food in cold weather, 

Onion, its value for lood 

" its value in a garden, 

"■ how to cook 

Open fires recommended, 

Oranue, to dye silk or wcol 

Order of dishes in a meal 

Ordinary ilhiesses referable to two 

causes, 

Ornamental boxes, 

Overcoat, to make 

Oj'sters, stewed 

'■ scalloped 

" broiled in the shell, 

Pain in the stomach, treatment of 

Painting lor women, 

Paint for kitchens, 

" for ijarlnrs and halls 

•' for barns and out-houses, . . . 

Paints, how to make 

Pastry, general directions for mak- 
ing, . 

Pattc'rn of rug 

PLnches, to can 

" to pick'e 

Pear preserve, 

P;,'c;iiiaceous food, 

Pecline in fruits, 

Pcreira, table sliowin; 
of sugar in food,.. . 

Personal cleanliness, 

Phantom bouquets, directions for 

making 

Phosphorus, form of its occurrence, 
in the brain and nerves. 



00 
29 

55 

255 
151 
155 
128 
42 
43 
43 
35 

35 
36 
37 
40 
23 

23 

40 



36 
41 
37 

38 
39 
71 
203 
119 
491 
316 
84 

359 
422 
293 
1C9 
139 
139 
S60 
435 
409 
4C9 
410 
285 



243 
312 
178 
1S7 
181 
49 



p;opor;ion 



44 
350 

428 
50 
59 



INDEX. 



671 



Phosphorus, supposed discovery of 

a Kreuch savaii 50 

" in lish 13- 

" In potato, 51 

in eggs 51 

" iu game and cheese, ... 51 

Pickles, 1S4 

Pies, general directions for making, 214 
Plan No. 1 of kitchen and pantry,. -i'M 

" No. 2 of kitchen, d9S 

" No. 3 of kitchen 4U0 

" No. 4 of kitchen and diui\:g- 

room 402 

Pleasures of good eating rational,. '.)S 

Pleurisy, treatment of 370 

Plums, preserved 12 i 

Poisons and their antidotes, CUT 

" antidotes for 379 

Poisonous stinjjs, treatment of — C73 

Polar diet. Dr. Kane on 40 

Polbhintr paste forBritanuia metal, 500 

Pork nof injured by salt 1~5 

" and cabbage, their merits,. . . OS 

" objections to 104 

Pot cheese 21-j 

Potash required m the system, 54 

" iu potato, 54 

Potato liked by Irishmen, why, ... 54 

" its merits, '^" 

" proper mode of cooking.. 
" sweet, mode of cooking . . 

" fried 

" cake, blot's recipe 

Potatoes, to keep from sprouting, 

Poultry, to preserve 127 

" food of, suggestions as to 219 
'• arrangements fur roosts,. 2i5 

" keeping, 210 

*' as a source of income,. . . 217 
Poulterers of Paris, their niauagc- 

meut, 221 

Powdered sugar, 4S 

Preserving, rules for 180 

" ' fruit, rules of the 

Oneida community,. 188 

Preserve, peach 181 

Preservation of vegetables and 
fruit ITS 



70 
117 
143 
140 
119 
173 



Rule for clothing 2T7 

Kules lor ecouom.t iu dress, 3u5 

Kye bread 108 

Sago, its composition, 31 

Salmon, Iiesh, to cook 134 

Salt requi.-ite in food 53 

•' to preserve meat, 123 

Saliva, its function, 20 

Salvo for burns, 382 

•• for cuts and sores 505 

Sea mosses, arran-.;ement of 446 

Selection of guests at a dinner 

party 472 

Selection of woolen goods, 3U8 

"• of a nice dress, 207 

Second law of a child's growth, ... 251 
Servant, policy of having one, — 448 
" and mistress, proper rela- 
tions between 449 

" suggestions as to training, 454 

" catech sm for 450 

Petting the table, 469 

Sewing women, competition be- 
tween, 438 

Shad, fresh, to cook 134 

Sheets, best mateiial for,. 483 

SMrt-niaking, directions lor 288 

Shoes made by machinery not eco- 
nomical, 313 

Silk, a rich brown to color 31T 

Size of sleepin<;-rooms, 355 

Slate color, to dye 316 

Sleeping, rules relating to 353 

Snow, to preserve meat, . . 128 

Snuilles, cure for 331 

Special appetite, the voice of na- 
ture, 55 

Spring beer, how to make 274 

Soup or broth, to make 114 

" why eaten first, 93 

Starch, and starching 478 

"• iu the principal cereal 

grains 33 

" as an element of food from 

potato 30 

" composition of '. . 30 

Steaks, how to broil, 108 

juice of, 109 



Preserving leather, recipe for 315! Stomach, its coats described, 21 

Pure air for children, necessity of . 327 I " digestion, 23 



Puddings, ireneral remarks on, and 

directHons for making, 239 

Quince preserve, ISl 

" jelly 182 

" marmalade, 182 

Recreation at home, 466 

Regular habits in infants, import- 
ance of 329 

Requisites for a happy home, 461 

Rickets 604 

Rice and wheat consumers com- 
pared, 157 

Rice as food 15t 

•' to boil 156 

Roast beef at dinner, 94 



Stoves and fuel. man:igcment of,.. 490 

Strawberries, to preserve, 184 

" to can 179 

" culture for women, . 443 

Sudden and severe burning, how to 

treat, 385 

Sugar, not heat producing 45 

^' as sole diet, effects of 46 

" varieties of. 46 

" percentan-e in milk 43 

" proportion of in various 

arfk'h's of food 44 

" in our fruits, 44 

" in pears, fresh and old 46 

'* composition of, 45 



AT-) 



INDEX. 



Sutrar, an element of respiration,.. 45 

bu^«i>. VuiiiiKiirs division of, 40 

Sulphur, required in tlie t^ystein,.. 52 

in wtial food found, 52 

Supply of water in liout^e:?, Hid 

System, its condition when we sit 

down to dinner, 93 

Taste and nia-iners, how cultivated 

at table, 25 

Tastes two. to be satisfied, 58 

Tea, to color with 317 

" L'reen ami black, 271 

" and cotiee, efiect of on the 

a-ed, 259 

Teething 3:3-1 

The d ning -room, 46!) 

The drying-room, 477 

The site of7i house, how to decide on 403 

Tissue-making food 26 

Toast water, to make, 257 

Toothache, treatment of, 373 

Tools recommended, assortment of, 496 

Tomatoes, stewed, 151 

toast, 151 

fried, 152 

" baked, 152 

" to pickle, 187 

To cure insect bites, L09 

To refasten knife and fork handles, 501 

To clean decanters 501 

To destroy the smell of fresh paint, 501 
To prevent the ill-eflects of char- 
coal, 501 

To purify river or muddy watei- 501 

To prevent mold in books, ink, 

paste, and leather, 502 

To prevent whitewash from rub- 
bing off. 502 

To prevent hinges from creaking,. 502 
To remove grease spots from car- 
pets 506 

" " ink spots from linen,. 506 

To dye black, 316 

To inake a dress, directions for,... 298 

To treat a boil ... 383 

To remove fcetid smell from sores, 383 

To stop lilecdiug at the nose, 504 

To prevent dogs from going mad,. 506 

To cure erysipelas, 505 

To remove warts, 505 

To clean paint 498 

To cure itch 505 

To remove lice 505 

To remove grease spots from floors, 499 
To remove ink stains from linen 

or cotton 499 

To remove grease from books 499 

" •' " silk or woolen, 499 

" " tallow or sperm from 

clothing and carpets, 499 
" " paint and putty from 

window glass, 500 

To extract ink frcm floors 500 

To take paint from cotton, silk, or 

woolen, .500 

To take rnst from steel .... 500 

To clean plate 500 



I To cure sheep poisoned by eating 

laurel, 503 

I To remove proud tlesh, 503 

To take out mildew, 506 

j To keep cutlery from rust, 506 

1 To prevent bruises from turning 

black, 507 

To make under waist for a little girl, 301 
To separate beeswax from the 

comb, 502 

To sew on glazed cloth, 502 

To cure black tongue, 504 

To clean door j)lates, 501 

To take out fruit spots 506 

To take grease out of silk, 506 

Tools, to preserve, 497 

'■ how to keep in place, 496 

Training of servants and children, 448 

Turkeys, young, care of. 224 

Turkey or goose, to stew, 122 

Tnpper, Mrs., her testimony as to 

bee keeping, 227 

Two classes of maladies mothers 

may treat 359 

Value of dift'erent woods for fuel,.. 493 
" " food reduced to three 

main points, 59 

Variety of dishes required, 88 

Vegetable food the best 69 

Vegetables, time of boiling 152 

and how to dress them. 141 

" ccnstitnents of, 142 

" various in the garden,. 204 
" best for a kitchen gar- 
den, .'.. 202 

Vegetables, chief distimtion in,.. 173 

Venison, to preserve 127 

its value as loocl 72 

Ventilation of rooms, 342 

Vests, directions for making 287 

^Yashing day 474 

•' facilities for 475 

" of while flannels, 475 

" of white clothes, 476 

" bv the sun • 477 

Walking rapid and cheerful, efl'ects of, 44 
Waste and supply in human body 

each dav ^6 

Ways of n;aking pin-money 436 

Weight of model man 55 

Wheat bread, its merits. 69 

Wheaten bread 175 

Whitewash for fences 498 

for inside walls 498 

Whooping cough, treatment of,..., 334 

Woman at hom e 469 

Woiran's duty when she becomes 

a wife and mother, 15 

Working dresses, 293 

" aprons 301 

Woolen pieces, to use up, 310 

Woolens, to wash 338 

Wool as a covering, 279 

" its superiority as a covering, 331 

Wounds on cattle, 506 

Yeast in bread, 159 

Yeast, potato, how to make 164 



INDEX TO APPENDIX. 



A good dish for tired people 552 

Artichokes, 546 

Beef tongue . , 541 

Best remedy lor burus, 53t 

Blackberry wine, 554 

Bread, , 544 

Breakfast shawl, to crochet £.03 

Cabbage with milk, 54B 

Cake, bride.. 511 



caraway 



515 



currant 514,515 

" cup 512 

'• colTce 513 

" cocoanut 513, 54S 

" composition 510 

'* chocolate 513,548 

" French loaf 517 

" fruit 511 

" gold 517, 543 [ 

'• Bard times molasses 517 : 

" hard molasses 517 

" hickory nut cake, 548 

" honeymoon, 510 

" honey 514 

" ice cream 547 

" johnny,..: 548 

" lady, 512 

" lemon 513 

•• Madeira 518 

'■ marble 513,547 

'• molasses cup 517 

molasses, 518 

" plum or wedding 511 

'■ pound 510 

'■ queen 516 

'• railroad 512 

" republican, 512 

*' raised 510 

'■ nee 514 

'• Sai;v Luiin 514 

' seed, 516 

siiVcr 548 

'• Sister Anna's, 54S 

*• Sister Amy's, 548 

" Scotch .512 

'• ppon;je. 510. 549 

'• sugar 511 

'• tip-top, 512 

" ■W.isbington 512 

'■ white 515 

' without eggs 517 

Canned salmon, 540 



Carpets to cleanse 564 

.Cauliflower, 546 

Catsup, tomato, 558 

mushroom, 558 

" walnut 5!i8 

Cement for broken cuina 564 

CharloUc Russe, 519 

'• •• apjiles i.i, 519 

Cherry bounce, 555 

Chicken tea 552 

Cocoanut jumbles, 515 

cheese cakes, 531 

Codfish balls 540 

Cold soap 566 

'• crcim 5.34 

" slaw 557 

CoIoi;ne water, 5.34 

Comfi.rters, 5S5 

Corn 1 eer, 555 

Corned beef, boiled 512 

Cream, Italian, 520 

snow, 520 

" lemon, 520 

" raspberry or currant 520 

" velvet, 520 

'• almond 520 

a la vanille, 521 

" chocolate 521, 52i 

apple 521 

cofl'ee, 521 

" tapioca, 550 

" puffs, 516 

Crullers, 515 

( ucnmbers, 516 

Custard, almond, 523 

baked 522 

boiled. , 522 

" rice 522 

" arrowroot, 522 

" coffee. .. 523 

" chocolate 55i 

gooseberry or apple, .... 521 

'■ cocoanut, 55i 

Doughnuts, 5l3 

" rai'cd 547 

Dveinsr 5.">!) 

1 Egg plant 5l6 

I Kve water 664 

I Floating i^laiHl -521 

I Formakintr cloth waterproof... .. 66(5 

Fi-ench rolls 5(4 

' Frogs' legs, ■. 54o 



6T4 



INDEX. 



Gem? 543 

Giblut p:e, 5o6 

Ginger bread, b/J 

fc^naps* 51(J 

Grape preserve, 5.,;j 

Gravy, 558 

Giuiibo, 500 

Honic-macie cream candy 554 

Ice creaui, 245, 550 

" strawberry, 523 

" pineapple 5:2:j 

" currant, 53;J 

Ink gtains, to remove, 500 

" black, to make, .'^GT 

Jackson jnmbles, 5I5 

Jelly, i^niava, 5.::j 

peach 55,; 

" rice 51;-> 

" strawberry, Cr,,'; 

" table Olf, 

'' tapioca, 51; 

" wine, 51;; 

Jenipalem Artichokes, 5: ' 

Kisses 51 , • 

Lace curtains to wash, SCO 

Lobster 5:.;) 

Lockjaw, to prevent, oGg 

Macaroons, 51g 

Macaroni, to cook, 5o;; 

Maple pods, 54." 

Marmalade, Scotch, 5o:o 

" orange, oOg 

MeriniTUCP 51n 

Milk lemonade, 534 

Mincc-mcat, Christmas 55i 

Moss blanc-mange, 5^1 

Oatmeal bread 54;j 

Oysters, fried ^h 

Parker House rolls, 545 

Parsnip cakes, 54(; 

Pnstry, to glaze or ice 5is 

Paste', fine French puft' 5£S 

" Aunt Smith's recipe 5i<) 

" crisp 5::<) 

" fnr family pies, S;.;) 

" rice 5C0 

" rich short 6%) 

" rich puff 5vj 

A. Mr. BluiV 5:i0 

Pickles, French, 5.1-5 

in alcohol 5.",") 

" commercial 55(5 

Pickled clams, 555 

fruit 5.:g 

" niartynias 55G 

Pickled red cabbage, 550 

Pickled walnuts 533, 557 

Pic, apple 5:>o 

'• carrot 5"1 

" cocoanut 5T1 

" cream 551 

" custard 531 

" lemon . 532, 552 

" Lent 552 



Pie. 



niiiicn 



..532, 533 



" potato 5:j1 

" pumpkin 531 

" squu.-h 531 

Pigeons to cook, 5C3 

I'hish lurniture, to cleanse 5G6 

Poke-weed greens, 643 

Pop-corn balls, 551 

Putted beef, 542 

Potted mackerel, 540 

I'rah-io chickens, 53S 

Pudding, Abcrandell 5:24 

" ' almond 627 

" baked Indian 627 

" baked batter S-iu 

" baked apple 525 

" blackberry ambrosia. . . . 549 

bird-nest 525 

boiled nour 524 

bf,;icdbaticr 524 

boiled Indian 524 

boiled English plum 525 

h:ead 5:£S 

" cranberry ro.l 52fi 

" cocoanut 52S 

corn starch 524 

" cotta;;e 524 

" custard 527 

fuit 549 

" plain 526, 52S 

" pGta;o SatJ 

queen's 524 

" rice 52G 

ioly-;H,ly 549 

" sago and apple 525 

" snow 523 

" squash 527 

strawberi-y custard 550 

'• sweet potato 524 

" tapioca 528 

'• tapioca, 'v.iih apples 549 

" trausparer.t 525 

" sauce 52G. 5i7, 549 

vanity 628 

Eag cai-pets, 558 

arraugmient of colors 

in 561 

Pairs 559 

Phubarb vinegar, 659 

Kice 540 

l^ice waffles, 544 

Koast, duck to 536 

lamb, 536 

'• on the pot.. 542 

" turkey 538 

'• sucking pig 536 

Pound steak stufled, 541 

PuL's, chenille 561 

Pu=ks, 543 

Salad, asparagus 645 

chicken 557 

" lettuce. 557 

" potato 543 



INDEX. 



575 



Salt maciserel, 539 

Saratoga polutofg, 545 

Sauce, holiandaise 55S 

" Spanish 558 

" mayonnaise 559 

" oyster 5.U 

" liorse-radisti 55!) 

Sausnge meat, 5o7 

Sausages, lion's lieart 537 

Scidlitz powders 5oo 

Scalloped clams, 5:30 

Scrapple 537 

Shad, fried 530 

" stewed 530 

Sheepskins, to make 563 

Simpb cerate, 534 

Silk, to clean 5C3 

Sliced potato, 547 

Smelts, 530 

Soft-shell crabs, 540 

Spinach 545 

Spiced wild grapes, 553 

Sonp, crab 585 

'* mu'lagatawny 535 

" beef 535 

" clam 535 



Soup, bean 535 

Steaks, to cook tender, 543 

Straw berry vinegar, 534 

Sning beans, 54G 

Slutted eggs, 537 

Sweetbreads, 541 

Tea bi>cuit 544 

Tlie Good Samaritan liniment, 51)3 

Toasted cheese, , 537 

Tomatoes, scalloped, 5 !6 

Top-dressing, 557 

To can corn , 547 

To crochet a breakfast sliawl, 503 

To knit gloves, 502 

To dry sweet corn, 517 

To dye sea green, 501 

Veal loaf, 541 

" cutlet 542 

Vienna bread, 544 

Wattles 614, 543 

Wall paper, to renovate, 503 

Water ices 523 

Whitewash, brilliant 566 

Wine whey 534 

" nnfermented, 554 

Wounds, remsdy for aching Sfri 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




